


Wheel Love

by Girlcommaplease



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Gen, Roller Derby, get in loser we're going shipping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 39,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24379519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girlcommaplease/pseuds/Girlcommaplease
Summary: When Adora is seventeen, her mom takes her to a roller derby bout, and she falls in love.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 253
Kudos: 479





	1. Firsts

When Adora is seventeen, her mom takes her to a roller derby bout, and she falls in love.

"So this is what I'm supposed to do," she thinks. She ran track for her high school team and had done fairly well, but she was graduating in a few months and hadn't been competitive enough to earn a spot on her college team. There is something about roller derby that immediately captures her heart. Maybe it's women working together, or being allowed to be tough, or the idea of flying fast in skates. She's not sure, but something in her says that this is where she belongs. 

Adora falls down a Google rabbit hole that night. She watches how-to videos, reads article after article, and then finally finds Etheria Roller Derby’s team website. Etheria is having tryouts in a few months, and she doesn't know if she can get ready that fast, but she can't imagine not trying. Her eighteenth birthday is in two weeks; she'll be old enough. 

So she buys a pair of skates, a helmet, and pads with money from her summer job and goes to the roller rink. She tentatively puts one foot onto the slick floor of the rink, holding the wall for support. She makes it about five feet out before she falls hard. 

A girl with a sparkly purple helmet breezes by her, then turns around and stops on her toes like it's nothing.

"Are you alright?" she asks. She reaches down to pull Adora up. Adora takes her hand. The girl skates backward over to side, pulling a wobbly Adora with her. 

"Yeah, thanks. How did you learn to skate like that?" Adora asks. She had noticed her while she was lacing up her skates, moving fluidly through crowds of small children and distracted couples. 

"Junior roller derby. And I know a couple of the skaters from ERD, so they’ve taught me a few things," she answers. 

"Etheria Roller Derby?! I went to their bout last month and it's all I can think about!" Adora exclaims. She starts skating slowly. The girl stays in front of her, skating backward. 

"Are you coming to clinics in April?" the girl asks. She keeps checking over her shoulder to make sure she isn't going to run anyone over and Adora is in awe.

"Clinics?" 

"Tryouts are in June. Two months before they do clinics to help everyone hone their skills," the girl replies. 

"I don't even know how to skate!" Adora says. She hadn't thought it would be easy, but she had fully expected to be able to stay upright for a full lap. 

"They take all skill levels. Lots of their best skaters couldn't skate at all before clinics. Scorpia was hopeless for half of her first season, and now she's going to be co-captain of the Horde," she replies. 

"Scorpia?! I remember her. She was incredible!" Adora says. She doesn't say that the main thing she remembers about Scorpia is her biceps. It seems like that might start a conversation she's not sure she's ready to have. 

"My friend Bow is coming to practice with me today. He wants to be a referee, but he's also pretty new. Do you want to skate with us?" the girl offers.

"That would be amazing! I'm Adora, by the way."

"You'll have to come up with a derby name! They call me Glimmer," Glimmer responds. 

\-----

After practicing with Bow and Glimmer once a week for a few months, Adora starts to feel more confident. She (mostly) only falls down when she's moving fast or trying to turn around. Bow is much further along than she is- his transitions are smooth and his turn around toe stops are something to behold. Adora still can't t-stop to save her life, and her plow stops are wide and slow. 

Despite all the progress she's made, her stomach feels like it's full of butterflies when she enters the first day of clinics. 

"You're going to be great," Glimmer whispers. "You've learned so much already."

Adora lets out a deep breath. They are in a big warehouse just outside the city. Someone checks her in and directs her to sit. There is a corner of the room that is dedicated to benches and a few chairs. There's tape on the floor in the back to indicate a track. A few of the league skaters had been using the track to warm up, but they come over to the group of clinic participants shortly after Adora sits down. Scorpia, one of a handful of skaters Adora recognizes, power slides into a stop in front of them. She is the most physically imposing woman Adora has ever seen. She's tall- on skates she's a full head taller than Adora, if not more. And those _biceps_. Her vibrant smile reveals a bright red mouth guard. 

"Hey! Hello, hi!! Wow, there are so many of you this year!" (Adora is kind of surprised to hear that- there are not even ten of them.) "I'm Scorpia, and I can't wait to meet all of you! Let's go around real quick and say our names! I'm Scorpia! She/her pronouns. Brand new co-captain of the Horde, one of our two home teams."

And okay. Maybe this was part of the reason Adora wanted to join roller derby. Scorpia is covered in tattoos, including a gigantic scorpion tattooed on her thigh, but she also has two Venus symbols, one looped through the other, in thick, black ink on her right bicep. She's wearing rainbow knee pads, and she casually included her pronouns in her introduction. 

"I'm Double Trouble. They/them. I'm moving from Bright Moon back to our other home team, the Horde, this season." Double Trouble's cadence is pure theater. They are slim, but Adora can see the lean muscles of their back and arms. Double Trouble had jammed more than anyone else at the bout Adora had seen. They were so fast and snuck through the pack like it was nothing. Adora's clearest memory of the bout was their blond hair (neatly braided) whipping behind them as they jumped the apex to dodge the other team's blockers.

Several other members of the team introduce themselves. 

“I’m Glimmer! she/her. I’ve just aged out of the junior league,” Glimmer says when it’s her turn. 

“Angella’s daughter!” says a bubbly, blond skater in a green helmet. “I love your mom! I miss skating with her, but she’s been an incredible bench coach!” 

Something crosses over Glimmer's face. She hadn’t once mentioned her mother in the month Adora has known her. They haven’t exactly hung out outside of the rink yet, but they’ve been meeting two or three times a week to practice. 

When it gets to be Adora's turn to introduce herself, she goes red.

"Hey! Uh, I'm Adora? I don't, um, I don't have a derby name yet, but, uh, I'm really excited to be here! Oh, and she/ruhhhh?"

The door opens right as Adora is in the middle of her pronouns, and she stutters at the interruption. The young woman comes in and starts making her way to the group. She's slim with wild dark hair. Even from across the room, Adora can tell one of her eyes in a bright blue and the other is almost golden brown. The sheer black tights she’s wearing under her tight red shorts have enough runs in them that Adora is surprised they have stayed together. She’s wearing a cut off crop top, exposing her lean midriff. Adora’s brain short circuits. 

"She/rah?" Scorpia asks, but her voice stays open and friendly 

"No, sorry, she/her! I got distracted!" Adora laughs brightly, which causes the rest of the group to laugh. 

"Whatever you say, She-Ra," Double Trouble replies with the widest grin Adora had ever seen. 

"CATRA! Oh man, I hoped you were coming! Get over here!" Scorpia calls to the young woman who had interrupted Adora's introduction. Catra allows Scorpia to pull her in for a truly intense side hug. "We went to high school together! Although I guess you're still there for a few more months, huh? We're doing introductions, tell them your name, Catra!"

"I'm Catra," she deadpans. She cocks her head at Adora, and Adora realizes she's been staring. She turns away. 

They spend the next half hour going over what the clinics will look like and talking about expectations for gear (which they'd already explained in an email, but Adora realizes pretty quickly that they are really serious about safety). 

Scorpia leads them through a series of warm up stretches in the open area next to the chairs. 

"Looking great, Catra! We should get coffee and catch up after this! Nice form on those squats, Glimmer."

Then they put on their gear to warm up. 

"Check in with Perfuma and Mermista once you're geared up! They are our safeties tonight! They are also the people to check in with if you get hurt."

“But also, like… don’t get hurt?” says the skater with long, blue black hair. Adora’s pretty sure she’s Mermista, but she still isn’t 100% sure who is who. 

Perfuma is smiling when she asks Adora if she can adjust the straps on her helmet. 

"It might feel a little silly at first, but you want it lower on your forehead than that," Perfuma says as she puts her hands on Adora’s helmet. There's something about her positive tone that reminds Adora of Scorpia. She wonders if everyone on the team is this friendly. It isn't what she was expecting from a sport that involves so much knocking into people. 

Adora lines up next to Glimmer. She notices that Glimmer has a black sticker on the front of her helmet, stating her name. A few of the league skaters have their names on their helmets as well. Scorpia has a scorpion painted on hers, in addition to the scorpion tattoo on her leg and the tiny scorpion pattern on her shirts, which seems like a huge commitment to scary desert bugs, but Adora isn't here to judge. 

"Is Bow coming?" she asks. She works her left skate in a little 'c' motion to get out some of her nervous energy.

"He has a big project due tomorrow, but he'll be here on Thursday. But it turns out they  _ really  _ need referees, so it sounds like they are pretty much just going to let him in," Glimmer replies. 

"Alright, let's do a few slow laps!" Double Trouble calls out. "Really feel your wheels under you. Sometimes, in life, you fall down. What matters most is that you pick yourself back up!"

"But also that you aren’t hurt! If you think you might be hurt, stay down and we’ll send Perfuma and Mermista to help you!! Anyway, laps! In derby direction which is… counter-clockwise? Or is it clockwise? Why can't I remember which way a clock goes?" Scorpia mutters. "Follow us!"

She begins skating counter-clockwise on the track. The clinic participants follow her. Only one skater has trouble staying up (the only boy in the group, a thin dusty haired prospective ref whose name Adora can't remember), and Perfuma immediately skates over to him to help. Double Trouble does a smooth transition to backward skating to talk to them. 

“We’re going to work on basic skills today, but if anything is too difficult, feel free to head over to Perfuma in the warm up area,” they say. Adora looks over to see Perfuma working with the young man who’d had trouble staying upright. He’s currently rolling forward at a very slow pace while Perfuma talks to him. “Look at all of these fresh, new faces! Let’s go back over to the wall. Scorpia is going to demonstrate a t-stop for you, and then everyone will practice together.” 

As she approaches the wall, Adora begins to plow stop. Too late she realizes she doesn’t have quite enough time, and she uses her wrist guards to catch herself on the wall. She glances around at the rest of the group; everyone else seems to have stopped before hitting the wall, but no one is looking at her. 

T-stops. Adora can do this. She has done this. Once. After quite a few unsuccessful attempts. Followed by several more unsuccessful attempts. 

Glimmer gently places her hand on the side of Adora’s helmet, and the gentle clack of her wrist guard pulls Adora from her thoughts.

After several minutes of describing where their wheels should be placed, where to put pressure, how to hold their bodies, and several other things that Adora can’t imagine keeping in her head at the same time, Scorpia demonstrates the t-stop. She shows them twice: one foot faces forward, the other is placed at a 90° angle behind her to get her to a fairly quick stop. She has them practice their foot placement, and then goes to demonstrate again. Something goes wrong this time, and Scorpia stumbles before quickly pulling herself back upright.

“Okay, I’m usually really good at that!” Scorpia says with a gentle blush falling across her face. 

Maybe it’s terrible, but this is the first time Adora feels like she really can do this. Everything else Double Trouble, Scorpia, Mermista, and Perfuma have done has looked effortless. Like they were born with skates on instead of feet. Seeing Scorpia stumble makes her think that maybe all of them are still works in progress.

“Sure you are,” Double Trouble says in a condescending tone, but their jack-o-lantern smile betrays their fondness for Scorpia.

“Let me do one more good one,” Scorpia says. She skates a few strides forward before executing her t-stop. “Still got it! Alright, you’re going to skate to the other wall. Along the way, do at least four t-stops. Use the same foot each time- we’ll do the other foot on the way back. Make sure you get up to a decent pace before your stop- it’s easier if you aren’t going slow.”

They line up along the wall for the drill. Mermista blasts a whistle for them to start. 

Adora skates forward a few strides before picking up her foot and placing it behind her. Her wheel twists and her body lurches violently before she stops, several feet ahead of where she’d intended to stop. 

Less than ideal.

Her second attempt is a little better, but she still struggles to come to a stop. Glimmer is already on the other side of the room, smiling brightly. Most of the other skaters are also finished. Catra is next to Glimmer, leaning casually with one skate fully on the ground, the other propped up on the toe stop. Adora can’t seem to keep her eyes off of Catra. When she goes to do her third t-stop, Catra’s eyes meet hers. Catra smirks.

And Adora falls flat on her ass. 

Her skate slipped out underneath her when she went to set it down. She glances around for a moment before pulling herself back to her feet. Red-faced, she skates back to the group.

“You okay?” Glimmer asks. 

Adora nods.

“If you’re not falling down, you’re not doing derby,” Mermista tells the group flatly. 

Scorpia takes over again, giving some pointers on what they can do to improve their form. Mostly, she gives a lot of praise, and manages to mention Catra at least three times. 

Mermista skates over to Adora before the group takes off. 

“Are you okay?” she asks in a more serious tone than Adora has heard from her so far.

“Yeah, I just… slipped, I guess,” Adora responds.

“Do you want me to work with you to the side for a bit.... Fuck, what’s your name? All I can remember is She-Ra.”

Adora laughs.

“It’s Adora, but I don’t care if you call me She-Ra. Is it okay if I try by myself a few more times?” she asks.

“Hell yes,” Mermista answers. She pats the back of Adora’s helmet. “Knock ‘em dead, She-Ra.”

One of her t-stops feels mostly okay. Glimmer claps a little and pulls her into a one armed hug when she gets back over to the wall. 

“That was so good!” she cheers. 

It feels a little weird to hear Glimmer congratulating her for  _ one  _ t-stop that was still worse than all of the ones Glimmer had done. Still, she’s proud of the progress she's made, and she knows Glimmer well enough to know she isn’t making fun of her.

\---

The rest of the clinic goes well. Her thighs are more sore than she can remember them ever having been before, but she feels bright and awake and ready to take on the world. 

“Wanna grab something to eat?” Adora asks Glimmer as they take off their gear. It feels a little bit scary to put herself out there like that, when their relationship so far has only been about skating. Still, she’s exhilarated from practice, and she’s pretty sure Glimmer also wants to be friends with her. 

“Is it weird if I want Chipotle? Maybe Bow’s done with his project and can meet up with us,” Glimmer responds. 

Adora takes her helmet off and feels a level of satisfaction comparable only to taking off her bra after a long day. 

“Did someone say Chipotle?” Scorpia asks. “I could eat two of their burritos right now. And chips and guac.”

“Do you want to come with us?” Glimmer asks. She glances at Adora to see if it’s okay, and Adora just smiles. 

“Yes! But wait, I promised Catra I’d hang out with her after the clinic,” Scorpia pouts.

Which isn’t quite how Adora remembers things. It seemed a little more like she’d needled Catra into agreeing to hang out, although Catra’s tone had sounded more fond than coerced. 

“Catra can come too,” Glimmer says.

And, oh.

Hanging out with Catra. 

She can do that. 

“If it’s okay with you?” Scorpia asks, turning toward Adora. 

“Yeah, sure, of course, absolutely, why not? The moRE the merriER,” Adora says, stressing exactly the wrong syllables, followed by the most forced laugh she has ever produced. 

Smooth. Real, smooth.

“Great! Let me ask her. Hey, Catra! CATRA!” she calls, despite Catra only being a few feet away. 

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Glimmer whispers. 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” Adora answers without making eye contact. 

“Want me to drive you?” Glimmer asks. “The Chipotle is really close by.”

Adora knows a trap when she hears one. She knows Glimmer just well enough to know that the second they get in the car, Glimmer is going to grill her.

“Sure, thanks,” Adora replies. Two can play at that game. She’s been waiting all day to ask Glimmer about her mom. 

“I’m so excited! We’ve barely hung out since high school g-”Scorpia starts and then looks panicked. “-eography club?”

“Wait, did you really just stop yourself from saying GSA?” Catra asks. She laughs, a much higher sound than Adora anticipated based on her raspy voice. “Scorpia, I don’t think anyone here mistook me for a heterosexual.”

“You mean your shirt isn’t about your fondness for office supplies?” Double Trouble gasps. 

Adora hadn’t noticed the symbols on Catra’s shirt until that moment. She looks down to see what’s printed on Catra’s shirt: two pairs of open scissors, blades intertwined.

Oh.

Oh!

She’s cool, everything is cool, no one is feeling awkward, no one’s ears are bright red, did it just get really warm in here? 

“Anyone else want to come to Chipotle?” Adora asks in an unnecessarily loud voice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic since 2011 (!?!) and first on this site. I was tangentially involved with roller derby a few years ago, but I haven’t really kept up on rule changes and new vocab in the past few years, so if you are a derby person, be forgiving, but also feel free to let me know what to fix! I tried to write this so people who don’t know anything about derby can follow along without too much trouble, but if you want any terms clarified, let me know! We haven’t really gotten into the rules of the game, because Adora is not ready to be making contact with other players, but we will learn more as she does!


	2. Burritos and Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Bow and Glimmer show their soft, gooey, emotional centers but are also hella weird.

“So why don’t you want Catra to come?” Glimmer asks the second Adora closes the passenger side door. They had agreed to meet Catra and Scorpia at Chipotle in twenty minutes, after they’ve picked up Bow. 

“What? I don’t have a problem with Catra coming. I’m sure she’s great. Why- why would you think I don’t want her to come? Maybe you don’t want her to come,” Adora rambles. A light blush has come over her cheeks and the tips of her ears. 

Glimmer glances over at Adora and then grins brightly.

“You have a crush on her,” she says playfully. 

“What?! I don’t- who- I- what?!” 

Adora wills her skin to turn back to something resembling its normal shade. 

“That’s why you kept looking at her!” Glimmer realizes.

Which.... maybe is something Adora had hoped no one else had noticed. She knew she hadn’t exactly been behaving normally around Catra, but she’d also hoped that she’d be able to get it under control before anyone guessed the reason. She always had before. 

“I don’t even know her!” Adora responds, covering her face with her hands and whining. 

“But you like her!” 

“I- she seems… cool?” Adora allows. Her palms and sweaty, her heart is racing, and she can’t bring herself to look Glimmer in the eye. 

But, also. 

No one has ever assumed she liked a girl before?

She’s never felt as immediately drawn to someone as she did to Catra, but she’s definitely had crushes before. Always on girls. Her friends at school have only ever asked her about boys, so she’s never had to lie. No one has ever asked her about it, but she also doesn’t bring it up. It’s been working so far. She figures she’ll eventually find a girlfriend and have to tell everyone, but with how weird she gets around girls she has crushes on, maybe she’ll never find a girlfriend. Maybe she’ll just get a bunch of cats and never have to tell anyone. 

“It’s okay if you don’t have a crush on her! Or if you don’t want to talk about it?” Glimmer offers.

It’s an excellent escape. One she could totally take. She could tell Glimmer she doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Maybe I have just a little crush?” Adora lies, and Glimmer literally squeals.

“You have about twenty seconds to decide if you want to let Bow in on this,” Glimmer says, pulling down a side street. “He loves talking about relationships.” 

“Relationship?! We haven’t even-”

“Are we telling Bow?” Glimmer interrupts. 

Bow heads toward the car.

Adora puts her head in her hands. 

“I guess?” she answers. 

Which means she’ll bring the total number of people who know she’s gay from zero to two in the span of about two minutes. Which is fine. It’s great. Glimmer is being really supportive, and Adora feels a little overcome with affection for her. She wants Bow to know. If Glimmer trusts that he’s safe to tell, she does too. It’s embarrassing that Glimmer knows. (It’s SO embarrassing that Glimmer knows.) But it’s also…

Really exciting? 

She's never had someone to talk about her crushes with. 

“Do you want to tell him?” Glimmer asks, as Bow opens the door.

“Ooh, tell me what?” Bow asks, ducking into the backseat.

“You can do it,” Adora says, sinking slowly into the seat.

“Tell me what? Tell me what?!” Bow asks.

“ADORA HAS A CRUSH ON CATRA,” Glimmer announces. 

Bow shrieks in excitement. He shakes the back of Adora’s seat. It is maybe the weirdest thing that has ever happened to Adora.

“Wait, who is Catra?” he asks. 

“She’s one of the skaters we’re eating with tonight, so play it cool,” Glimmer says.

“Oh, I’ll play it cool,” Bow says, but he has an enormous smile on his face.

Adora cannot imagine either of them will be able to play it cool.

“What’s she like? Is she on the team? Is she cute? Is she single? Can I be the Best Man at your wedding?” Bow asks, rapid fire.

Adora kicks her feet and whines in frustration. 

“She’s cute,” Glimmer answers. “She was there for clinics, like us. I don’t know if she’s single, but she likes girls!”

“I am So. Excited. For. You!” Bow shouts, pulling Adora into a hug from behind, trapping her against the seat. Then he hands her his phone. “And also I have enough points for a free burrito. Put your order in the app so it’s ready when we get there.”

“Are you going to ask her out?” Glimmer asks.

“What?! NO,” Adora answers immediately.

“She was looking at you a lot during practice.” (“What?!” Bow gasps.) “I bet she’d say yes!”

“What happened to playing it cool?” Adora grumbles. “I’m not going to say anything to her. I can’t just, like, go up to her and ask her to go out with me. I’ll just wait until I can be normal with her and maybe we can be friends.”

Bow and Glimmer’s expressions change from excitement to confusion. 

“Adora, have you had a girlfriend before?” Glimmer asks.

“No,” Adora answers softly. It’s a lot easier to have this conversation while she doesn’t have to look at them, so she keeps fiddling with her order in the Chipotle app, even though she gets the same thing every time. 

“Have you had a boyfriend before?” Bow asks after a moment.

“No,” Adora says. 

Adora takes a deep breath. She doesn’t have to do this. She knows she doesn’t have to do this. But would it really be so bad to tell Bow and Glimmer, who were so excited about the idea of her having a crush on Catra?

“And I don’t want a boyfriend. I’m gay. And I haven’t exactly told a lot of people. Or...anyone?”

The car is silent for just long enough to make Adora nervous, and then.

“We are the worst friends,” Bow wails.

Wait… what?

Okay, so her face is bright red, and she never would have chosen to start this conversation, but it’s still… nice? Neither of them has been weird about her having a crush on a girl. 

Well, they’ve been weird. They are definitely being, just… so weird. Just not about Catra being a girl.

“Did I just tease you into coming out for the first time?” Glimmer asks, horrified.

“Maybe a little?” Adora answers. “But I’m not. I’m not mad. I just don’t want Catra to know.”

“Adora, I’m so sorry,” Bow says. “We will be so discreet. As discreet as we can be. Discretion is not my strength.”

“We’ll keep it quiet,” Glimmer says, firmly. “I’m sorry Adora.”

“It’s really okay,” Adora says. It really is. She’s glad they got it out of her. “I’m not hiding it. I just haven’t really known where to start. Like, if I told everyone who’s asked me if I had a boyfriend, I’d never stop telling people. And that just seems like a lot.”

Bow is tearing up a little bit, which makes Adora’s chest clench. 

“We’re here for you, okay?” Bow says. “Coming out is really personal, and neither of us meant to try to take that away from you. I’ve been out since middle school, so sometimes I forget that everyone takes it at a different pace.”

“You’re gay?” Adora asks. She’d always assumed there was something between Bow and Glimmer, but they’d never spoken about it. He knows her Chipotle order. That is a level of intimacy Adora has never reached with another human being. 

“Bi,” he replies. 

“Me, too,” says Glimmer. 

“Okay, so you’re both coming over to my house this weekend to watch Steven Universe and cry about our feelings,” Bow says breezily. (Adora doesn’t know what Steven Universe is, and she’d like to avoid crying in front of people. Still, it’s exciting to have someone to be out to, and she’s not going to turn down the offer.) “And, Adora, my dads are the best at coming out stuff, if you want to talk to them. And I can just pretend I don’t know anything about you and Catra.”

“What’s there to know?” Glimmer asks as she parks the car. “We’re just going to have burritos with two new friends like totally normal people.” 

Adora is screwed, isn’t she?

They get out of the car and Adora starts heading into the restaurant. 

“Wait!” Glimmer says.

“Best friend squad hug?” Bow asks, holding out his arms. 

Adora laughs and wraps her arms tight around both of them. They stay like that for a second, before Bow interrupts.

“You both smell terrible.”

\----

Scorpia and Catra already have a table when they get into the restaurant. Catra has a leg tucked under her body and she’s tucked into a corner, leaning against a wall. There’s something about her posture that exudes confidence. 

“Hey! Glimmer! She-Ra! Other guy! Over here!” Scorpia calls out, as though they wouldn’t have noticed her. It’s late enough that the restaurant is fairly empty.

Also, Adora guesses she’s stuck with She-Ra. It could be worse. 

“I’m gonna go get our mobile order!” she says, while Bow and Glimmer head over to the table. 

Get the mobile order. She can do that.

It’s just been a really long day, between school, and trying out a brand new sport in front of people, and falling on her ass, and getting a nickname, and meeting new people, and meeting Catra, and seeing Catra sweaty and wearing a crop top, and coming out to Bow and Glimmer, finding out Bow and Glimmer are bi, finding out Bow has two dads, and…

Mobile order. Right. 

Their bag is already on the shelf. It turns out Bow’s full name is Bow Archer, which is kind of wild, but sure. That can be a name. She brings their bag back to the table to find Glimmer sitting next to Scorpia and Bow sitting at the end of the table, which leaves one seat left.

Next to Catra. 

That’s cool.

Real subtle, Bow and Glimmer.

She sits down. She can do this. Just five new friends, eating burritos the size of their faces. 

“We were just getting to know Bow,” Scorpia says. “His dad is my history professor!” 

“My other dad also teaches history at EU,” Bow adds.

“Wait.. Dr. Archer and Dr. Archer are married? That’s- actually that isn’t surprising.” Scorpia says, and then pauses to eat a chip covered in a truly impressive amount of guacamole. “Catra’s starting at EU in the fall. I can’t wait to see her on campus all the time!”

“Can’t wait,” Catra says. Her tone is sarcastic, but she’s smiling. 

“What a coincidence!” Glimmer says, unwrapping the foil and gazing lovingly at her burrito. “Adora and I are also starting next semester! Right Adora?”

“Yep,” Adora say, hitting the p with a hard pop. “Going to college. Gonna… give it the old college try.”

Hell.

Who is she becoming? 

Can she just say one normal thing in front of Catra? Maybe even something cool?

“What year are you, Scorpia?” Bow asks, saving her from whatever hot nonsense was about to spew out of her mouth next. 

“I’m finishing up my sophomore year,” Scorpia answers. 

She’s majoring in Kinesiology and planning on becoming a physical therapist, which Adora finds really interesting, so they wind up talking about that. Eventually, she’ll have to figure out what to major in, but it feels like such a huge choice to make, and she still doesn’t know what she can see herself doing long term. It's nice to hear about what's out there. Scorpia is really invested in her program of study, and the Gender and Sport class she’s taking next semester sounds awesome. She casually mentions that she’s thinking about taking a fitness class over the summer to stay busy.

“You know, something low impact to balance out the roller derby. I’ve been thinking about maybe trying yoga,” Scorpia says.

“Yoga?” Catra asks with a sharp grin. “Didn’t Perfuma say she teaches yoga classes?”

“Oh, yeah,” Scorpia mumbles. “I guess she does.”

“What a coincidence!” Catra exclaims in a tone that implies that she doesn’t believe this to be a coincidence at all. “Maybe you could go to one of her classes.”

“That could be fun! I haven’t really thought about it,” Scorpia says in a tone that implies she has thought about it a lot. “Do you think it would be weird if I asked her about signing up?”

“Why would it be weird?” Catra asks with wide eyes. 

Adora trades glances with Bow and Glimmer. She doesn’t really know either of them well enough to be sure, but if this is about what she thinks it’s about? It’s a hell of a lot more fun to be on the other side. Glimmer bites her lip on a smile. Scorpia blushes but doesn’t seem to have a good answer for Catra’s question. 

“Who’s Perfuma?” Bow asks, saving Scorpia from having to come up with an answer. 

“She skates for Bright Moon,” Scorpia answers. “She’s got this long, blond hair that’s kind of wavy, and a really positive attitude, her smile is like sunshine after a long, dark winter.”

Okay, now she understands Bow and Glimmer’s reaction in the car a little better. This is super cute. 

“She seemed really patient when she was helping that guy learn to skate. I bet she’s a great teacher,” Adora says with a smile. 

“I’m sure she’d teach you all sorts of things,” Catra says. Her eyes are innocent, but her smile is vicious. She shifts herself to lean further against the wall, and in the process, her ankle brushes against Adora’s. Instead of moving it like a normal human being, she just leaves it there. 

“Yeah. She’s really smart,” Scorpia sighs. “Did you know her parents own a flower shop? Her whole balcony is covered in plants, and she distills her own essential oils. She even makes a gear spray.”

Which then turns into a conversation about derby stank. Adora tries to focus on what the rest of them are saying, but Catra’s ankle is still pressed against hers. It’s incredibly rude. Doesn’t she realize she’s touching Adora? Doesn’t she realize that Adora’s poor, gay brain can’t handle prolonged physical contact with pretty girls? Doesn't she know Adora can't just move her own foot away and miss out on prolonged physical contact with a pretty girl? Suddenly, Catra stretches, and her ankle moves against Adora’s leg. 

“Well, this has been a blast, but I should really get going,” Adora says. She starts standing up before she remembers that Glimmer drove her here. “If… if Glimmer and Bow are ready.”

“I should probably head home. My mom gets really weird when I’m out on school nights,” Glimmer says.

Everyone says their goodbyes, except Catra. She waits until they are almost to their cars and maintains eye contact with Adora while she says, “See you later, Ben, Shimmer... Adora.”

Neither Bow nor Glimmer correct her on their names, but Glimmer does scowl. They get into the car.

“So… that’s your type, huh?” Bow says. 

Adora groans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of media out right now where the coming out conversation doesn't happen. Characters just date who they want to date and everyone is cool with it. It's nice to have that content, but that's not what this is going to be. I wanted to dive a little deeper into coming out and finding a place in the queer community, particularly as a young woman who looks feminine. (This also isn't going to be a fic about intense homophobia or transphobia. No one is getting beat up in an alley.)


	3. Day Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora is unfairly expected to concentrate while making physical contact with Catra.

Her parents have no idea. 

It feels like something huge has changed in her, but her parents have absolutely no idea. The next two days at school, her classmates have no idea. She wants to tell everyone, and she wants to tell no one. She’ll be sitting in Math class when the thought will come over her. “I’m gay. I told Bow and Glimmer,” she thinks, and the thought feels loud in her head. Her classmates should be able to hear it, it’s so loud. They don't. She says nothing. 

When she gets to the next clinic on Thursday evening, Bow and Glimmer are already there. She hugs both of them. Since Tuesday, she’s been a part of a very intense group text chain with them. (Bow uses more emojis than anyone Adora has ever met.) After the car ride, Bow decided that Adora was officially a part of the ‘best friends squad’, for which he is making matching friendship bracelets. He has already sent out four different pictures of them in progress, and Adora has to admit- they are very cute. 

Just like last time, Catra arrives just before they get started, but after the scheduled start time. She’s (thankfully) not wearing a crop top this time , but she’s also not alone. She’s brought another girl with her. She’s short- even shorter than Catra, who isn’t particularly tall. Her hair is shaved on the sides, but the middle is braided back into several thick braids. She’s cute. And standing very close to Catra.

Cool.

Neat.

She just met Catra two days ago. It kind of seemed like she was flirting with Adora, but maybe she has a girlfriend. Lots of people have girlfriends. 

Not Adora. 

But lots of other people. 

The girl tells a joke and Catra throws her head back laughing. Literally throws her head back. Because her girlfriend is so funny. How great for Catra. It must be great to have such a funny girlfriend. Adora wouldn’t know. 

Okay, so Adora doesn’t know that she’s Catra’s girlfriend. She literally doesn’t even know her name. For all she knows, she could be her sister who happens to have a radically different complexion. One of them could have been adopted. Lots of people were adopted. Adora was. 

They get called over for another off skates warm up. The warm up is led by Perfuma, who takes them through several slow stretches and tells them to “draw energy from the earth into their bodies” and “feel the air filling their lungs with the strength of the universe.” Adora keeps glancing over to Catra and her friend. So far, neither has clearly done anything that makes their relationship evident. 

“Wow, I feel so ready to skate. Thanks for a great warm up, Perfuma!” Scorpia says. Now that it’s become evident that Scorpia has feelings for Perfuma, Adora has tried to gauge Perfuma’s reaction to Scorpia. She smiles at her a lot, but Perfuma smiles at everyone.

They get geared up and head over to the track for warm up laps and intros with a skater Adora had never met before. It takes Adora a moment to take her in. She’d thought Scorpia was muscular, but she had nothing on this woman. Who knew someone’s back could be that muscular? There’s something to be said about a woman who could physically pick her up. That just seems like it could lead to some pretty interesting scenarios. Of course, she’s also drawn to Catra’s slim physique. She’s maybe also noticed Mermista’s wide, curvy hips and Perfuma’s long, lean legs, and Catra’s new friend’s tight, compact, muscular form, and… yeah, she’s just really gay.

“I’m Huntara. Today, we’ll be working more on stops, and we’ll be starting on transitions. If you need one-on-one help, we’ll have Sea Hawk ready to work with you,” the skater says. 

“Hello! As Huntara has told you, I am Sea Hawk! I began as a referee at the urging of my lovely, close personal friend Mermista!” 

“Look at his mustache,” Bow whispers in awe. 

This maybe didn’t need to be said, as his mustache is very evident. It is large, gently curled and extremely shiny. No one had failed to notice that mustache. 

“I’m Lonnie. Catra drug me out here. We’ve been skating together since we were kids,” Catra’s friend says. 

Skating together. Just skating? Skating and occasionally making out? Skating and gazing deeply into each other's eyes? Skating and planning to spend their lives together?

Unclear. Further investigation needed. 

She hadn’t noticed earlier in the week, but Catra is an excellent skater. She’s fast and confident and can jump into a transition. Adora’s not sure if that’s more practical than just stepping into it, but it looks really cool. Lonnie’s also pretty good. She’s not as fast as Catra, but her stops are precise, and she doesn’t look down at her wheels like Adora does. 

They probably have a lot of fun together. Skating. Adora’s really happy for them.

T-stops go a little better than last time, although she still falls down once. Then it's time for them to work on plow stops. She’s actually doing pretty well with them, so of course they have to make things difficult for her. Huntara tells them she is going to pair them up for the next drill. And of course, Adora winds up paired with Catra. 

Double Trouble and Huntara demonstrate the drill for them. And… Adora’s not going to make it. 

“You’re going to stand behind your partner and put your hands on their back,” Double Trouble says as Huntara stands arm length behind them and lays her hands on the small of their back. “Hey, buy me dinner first.”

“What? No,” Huntara says flatly.

“First rule of improv, it’s always ‘yes, and’,” Double Trouble sighs. “Hands low on the small of your partners back, just north of their ass. Don’t touch their ass. Well, not without their consent. Pause for laughter…” (They really say that, but to be fair, the group does laugh.) “You’re going to push gently on your partner’s back and skate forward. Then the partner in front will plow stop you both to a stop.” 

Double Trouble and Huntara demonstrate the drill, and it’s pretty impressive to watch Double Trouble stop someone so much larger than them. 

But, also. Is it possible to die from exposure to extreme attractiveness? 

She’s supposed to put her hands on Catra’s back? She doesn’t think Huntara and Double Trouble understand that she is going to be fully useless if she is touching Catra’s body. What if her skin is warm? She can’t be expected to focus on anything else. And Catra is going to touch her? With her body?

She hears a snort from Glimmer, and of course, she’s looking at Adora and holding in laughter. Glimmer is paired with Lonnie, who looks at Glimmer like she’s lost it. 

“Hey, Adora,” Catra says, low and slow and rumbly, and...

What. 

What the fuck was that?

Who gave her permission?

“Do you want to go first, or should I?” Catra asks. 

Neither! She wants neither! 

“I can push you first,” she says. 

So, putting her hands on Catra’s back? Is going to be a challenge. But at least she’ll just have to focus on moving forward. She’ll have time to wrap her brain around trying to successfully plow stop while Catra is touching her. 

So they line up and Adora puts her hands feather light on Catra’s back. It is… very warm. She’s wearing a light tank top, the only thing separating Adora from her bare skin. Well, that and the wrist guards covering half of Adora’s hands. 

Catra’s waist is tiny. Like, If Adora tried, she could wrap her fingers almost all the way around it. What’s she supposed to do with that kind of information?

Huntara blows her whistle and Adora pushes Catra forward. They get to the first stop, and Catra stops quickly, causing Adora to stumble.

“Can you push me harder?” Catra asks.

Yeah, sure, yep, she can do that. Absolutely no reason for Catra to use the word harder. 

“I’ll try,” Adora replies, and she pushes quite a bit harder this time. 

Catra’s really good at this. She’s several inches shorter than Adora, and Adora has a fair amount of muscle on her, but she stops Adora with no problem.

Then it’s time to switch places. When Catra puts her hands on Adora’s back, she startles. 

“You alright, princess?” Catra asks in that cool, sarcastic tone she seems to have perfected.

“Doing great! Just-” she cuts herself off as she tries to plow stop and starts falling forward. Catra moves her hands to grab Adora around the waist, pulling her back upright. 

Which leaves her with Catra just… touching her waist. 

“You ready to try again?” Catra asks, but her hands stay on Adora’s waist. 

Adora nods and Catra shifts her hands back to her lower back.

Her next stop is much better. Still nowhere near as tight as Catra’s, but she’s proud.

“Nice one,” Catra says. She sounds sincere, which kind of freaks Adora out. 

Of course, once they get back to the wall, Huntara gives a few tips and has them try again with the same partners.

Adora is immune now. She is cool as a cucumber. She’s basically a professional at touching Catra. She could do this all day. 

She puts her hands low on Catra’s back again, and no. No, she couldn’t do this all day. Someone pull the fire alarm. Get her out of here. 

Somehow, she makes it. 

Then, it’s Catra’s turn again.

“Should I warn you this time? Coming in in 3, 2, 1,” Catra teases. 

Adora stays upright, but before they even get moving, Double Trouble comes in to adjust her posture.

“Get lower… lower than that. Okay, perfect, now let’s straighten your back a little bit. Catra, you can put your hands a little lower.”

Catra’s hands wind up right above her ass. Like, her pinkies are seriously straddling the ass/back border. The tips of her fingers are curved just a little around Adora’s sides. 

“Lovely! Off you go, kids,” Double Trouble says. 

Her first stop is just… bad. She goes in stronger with her right foot than her left one, and winds up turned sideways. 

Once again, she sees that most of the group is already on the other side. 

“C’mon Adora!” Glimmer cheers.

It’s sweet. She shakes herself out of her head.

Her last plow stop is the best one she’s ever done. Catra drops her hands from Adora’s back and pats her shoulder as she skates around her. 

“Nice one,” she says. She smoothly transitions and pops onto her toe stops to a quick stop, making eye contact with Adora the whole time. 

Maybe Adora would be okay if Catra was just hot, or just flirtatious, or just looked really cool when she skated, but the trifecta seems unfair. 

Huntara announces a water break.

Adora could use some water.

Bow and Glimmer talk to her a little bit, and she pretends not to listen in on Catra and Lonnie. They’re talking about prom. 

Adora is going with one of her track teammate’s brothers. She has stressed several times to her teammate that this is not a romantic date, although several of her friends from the team told her they would be really cute together.

“Adora, you’re so pretty. I don’t know why you don’t have a boyfriend,” her teammate Brianna told her. 

She laughed it off: she doesn’t have time, she’s not really into any of the guys at her school (understatement), she wants to wait until college to date. 

“I don’t understand why you get to decide what I wear, and I don’t have any say in what you wear,” Lonnie says.

That seems to answer the question. You coordinate prom outfits with your date. Not with your sister or friend or platonic acquaintance. 

“Ooh, are we talking about prom? What are you wearing?” Bow says. 

“She won’t tell me what she’s wearing,” Lonnie huffs. “But I’m apparently wearing a red, backless dress.”

“Red’s a good color on you,” Catra insists. “We’ll coordinate. Besides, you said you wanted Octavia to notice you.”

Adora must have misheard that. Why would Lonnie want someone to notice her if she already had Catra’s attention?

Of course, she can’t ask that, which is why she’s exceptionally grateful for her new friends.

“Who’s Octavia?” Bow asks.

“Nope, we’re not doing that,” Lonnie answers. She doesn’t even sound embarrassed. It’s a power that Adora envies. 

“Bow and I had so much fun at his prom last year!” Glimmer says. 

“I still don’t understand why the dress code required me to put on that stupid cummerbund,” Bow pouts. "But it's really fun to go to prom with your best friend."

Smooth, Bow. 

Lonnie and Catra just stare at him. 

“Adora, when is your prom? What are you wearing?” Glimmer asks. 

“Two weeks, I think? I haven’t really thought about what I’m wearing yet,” Adora answers honestly. Now that she thinks about it, maybe she should have thought about what she is wearing.

“Does that mean…” Bow starts excitedly.

“Best friend squad makeover!!” Glimmer cheers.

Huntara calls them back over to skate, but Adora doesn’t think that’s going to get her out of the makeover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is such a low contact drill, tbh. It's going to be a little while before we get to real contact, but it is absolutely not unusual to have your full torso pressed against another skater. Pour one out for Adora; she's going to need all the strength she can get.


	4. Best Friend Squad Sleepover and Prom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prom prep! Best friend squad! Glimmer has intense feelings about makeup! Prom!

The night before Adora’s prom, Bow has her and Glimmer over for the First Official Best Friend Squad Sleepover. Adora had maybe lied to her parents and told them she was going to stay at Glimmer’s. She knew her parents wouldn’t approve of her spending the night at a boy’s house, which under different circumstances might have been convenient. 

It’s her first time at Bow’s house. They’d talked about meeting up there a few times, but things always fell through. The house is huge, which makes a little more sense when she sees the photos lining the stairwell.

“How many siblings do you have?” Adora asks.

“Twelve,” Bow answers.

Which maybe explains a few things about why he’s so good at conflict resolution. 

Adora can’t imagine growing up in a house with that many other kids. Her parents hadn’t had any biological children. They hadn’t even necessarily planned on adopting, but Adora’s biological father was her dad’s brother. When he and his wife died in a car accident, Adora was six months old. It’s weird to think about sometimes, but she loves her parents and can’t imagine what her life would be like if they were just her aunt and uncle. Her biological parents had been fairly young. Maybe she would have had a lot of siblings, too. 

“Was it fun to grow up with that many siblings?” Adora asks, looking at the photos.

“Yes?” Bow says. “Sometimes? It’s weird to be the only one left in the house now.” 

Bow goes through the photos on the wall, telling her a little about all of his brothers and sisters. All of them have advanced degrees; none of them live in Etheria. Quite a few of them have children of their own. He also shows her a cabinet displaying the books his dads have published. It all seems like a lot to live up to.

They get to Bow’s room, and Glimmer claps her hands excitedly.

“Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show!” she cries.

“Or I could just show you the dresses on their hangers?” Adora offers, but Glimmer looks shocked at the suggestion, so Adora goes to the bathroom to put on the first dress. 

Glimmer is not impressed with any of the dresses Adora brought over.

“It’s prom! Don’t you want to go for something a little more exciting?” she asks.

“Oh, I don’t really care about clothes,” Adora answers. She’s never really understood why it seems to be such a big deal. Her wardrobe is pretty limited. Most of her clothes were picked out by her mom. It’s always been a relief to Adora to not have to worry about what she’s going to wear. 

“You said you brought over some makeup?” Glimmer asks. She brings a hand up to rub at her temple. 

“Yeah, here you go,” Adora says, pulling out her makeup.

“Okay, so you have... a bottle of foundation that is at least two shades lighter than your skin, a blue eyeliner pencil, one taupe eyeshadow, and a... root beer flavored chapstick,” Glimmer says. Her voice raises as she goes through the list.

“It sounds like you think that’s bad?” Adora replies, confusion evident. She really only wears makeup to dances, and she doesn’t always go to school dances. It doesn’t bother her to have makeup on, but it’s also not something she invests any energy in. 

She likes the root beer chapstick, though. 

(Because it tastes like root beer.)

Glimmer looks to Bow, who laughs awkwardly. She nudges him.

“Oh, hey Adora, I made you something!” Bow exclaims. Glimmer huffs and rolls her eyes. “If you don’t want to take it home with you, you can leave it here.”

He hands her a handmade card. On the front, he has drawn Adora riding a unicorn with wings. The inside says “Congrats on coming out! Welcome to the family!” 

Adora laughs, but it catches in her throat a little. She wipes her eyes quickly. 

“Thank you,” she says earnestly. 

Bow sweeps her into a hug. Glimmer comes in on Adora’s other side and wraps her arms as far as she can around both of them. 

She’s had friends before. There are a few girls at school who she hangs out with pretty regularly. One of them even gave her a pad when she started her first period in 8th grade science class. That’s the kind of stuff that makes an eternal bond.

But this is different.

Somehow, despite only knowing Bow and Glimmer for a few months, she feels like she’s known them forever. She’s already told them something about herself that she had never told anyone before. 

Do other people just walk around feeling known like this?

Adora squeezes them tight. 

“So maybe tomorrow we go to Sephora and see if we can get a foundation sample that matches your skin?” Glimmer suggests gently.

\---

Bow insists on introducing Adora to Steven Universe. Usually, she’s not interested in watching kid’s shows, but it’s cute and a little gay. Bow and Glimmer pick their favorite episodes for her to watch. They try to explain things in between episodes, but she’s not really invested in the plot. There’s something about the casual use of they/them pronouns and the romantic relationships between characters of the same-sex (kind of? It’s like a weird alien thing she’s not sure she understands) that feels exciting. It makes her wonder if she would have grown up watching things like this if she would already be out by now. 

And something about Stevonnie’s voice is kind of... cute? 

So they watch cartoons until Bow’s dads appear. They are very excited to meet Adora in a way that is maybe a little overwhelming.

“We’ve met Akiko, of course, but it’s always exciting to meet Bow’s new friends. He was always such a shy boy,” the shorter and more impressively mustachioed of Bow’s dads says.

Shy isn’t how she would describe Bow, but parents are weird. 

“Akiko, of course. That’s the name of a person Bow knows,” Adora responds, shaking his hand. 

“That’s my name,” Glimmer whispers.

Oh, duh. Glimmer was her derby name. She hadn’t really thought about Glimmer’s legal name. 

George and Lance insist that Adora call them by their first names, which means she is going to avoid referring to them at all. They also insist on ordering pizza, but Adora has no complaints about that. 

Glimmer maybe has slightly less physical boundaries than Adora is used to, because she somehow convinces Adora to let her paint her toenails while they wait for the pizza to arrive. Adora’s not sure why they need to paint her toenails. Why would anyone be looking at her feet? Maybe she should be offended that Glimmer told her she didn’t trust her to paint her own nails, but well… she wasn’t wrong.

“You’ve gotten better at talking to Catra,” Bow says. He’s brought out the best friend squad friendship bracelets. He’s weaving in the letters BFS and tiny, smiling versions of their faces. They are truly the cutest things Adora has ever seen, and she can’t wait to wear hers every day. 

“That’s kind of a low bar,” Glimmer mutters, but Bow shushes her. 

They’re both right. Adora has had two whole conversations with Catra over the past few weeks, although there wasn’t a whole lot of substance to them. 

“Her prom was last weekend, right?” Glimmer asks. She’s applying a third coat of polish to Adora’s toenails, which seems fully unnecessary. The first coat was clear, which… why? 

“Yeah, that’s why she got that manicure,” Bow answers, and then he and Glimmer make obnoxious eye contact with Adora while she blushes.

Adora feels personally victimized by Catra’s prom manicure.

She had gotten black, matte, acrylic stiletto nails. Maybe black nails for prom is a little unusual, but no.

That’s not all.

The claw-like artificial nails weren’t applied to all of her fingers. She’d left her pointer and middle fingers with her natural, short nails. 

(‘Who is raising this girl?!’ Adora regularly wonders. ‘Won’t someone think of the closeted, lesbian jocks?’)

Of course, that means Adora has had to spend two practices thinking about the implications of that manicure. Right after she noticed it the first time, Mermista had to call Adora’s name twice to get her attention back to the instructions.

It sure didn’t help that Lonnie had made a bunch of jokes about Catra’s nails. 

Well, maybe it helped a little.

“Do you have another prom date you did that for? I know you don’t think you’re getting any of this,” Lonnie had said. 

It wouldn’t really be any of Adora’s business if Catra and Lonnie were dating. It’s not like she plans to ask Catra out. At this point, she can barely handle being in the same room as Catra, let alone Suggestive Manicure Catra. 

Still. It’s nice to know. 

“I found out her grandparents run a skating rink outside of town. Sometimes she works there on weekends,” Adora says. Does it count as changing the topic if you’re still talking about the same person?

“Oh, is it the Halloween themed one? The Fright Zone, or whatever?” Glimmer asks. “What a weird concept for a skating rink…”

“I went to a birthday party there once!” Did you know they have pumpkin spice churros?” Bow says. Bow loves pumpkin spice. 

Very early in their friendship, Adora learned that Bow had absolutely no shame about any of his interests, even the ones that are pretty... basic, for lack of a better term. It’s kind of refreshing. There’s no pretense with Bow; he likes the things that he likes, and he’s uninterested in being shamed about any of them. His derby gear is absolutely adorable- his knee pads, wrist guards, and elbow pads are pink with rainbow straps, and he has lovingly stitched hearts onto them. He’s already begun constructing his outfit for the local renaissance fair, even though it won’t take place for another four months. On three separate occasions, Adora has seen him carry groceries for old ladies. (Seriously, they’ve never even been anywhere near a grocery store together, but Bow has, like, old-lady-radar.)

Adora also knows that he can bench press almost as much as Scorpia can.

If there were more guys like Bow, Adora is sure the world would be a much better place. 

“Maybe we could go sometime?” Glimmer suggests innocently.

“You know I’m always down for pumpkin spice,” Bow says, and then he argues a little with Glimmer about whether or not they would have pumpkin spice churros in May. 

Adora’s certainly not opposed. She’d love to skate and eat weird churros with her friends. If she happened to run into Catra, that would be fine. There’s nothing weird about running into someone she knows from derby at a skating rink. And if Catra happened to want to talk to her, or pass her her change and their fingers brushed ever so slightly, or whatever, that could be fine. 

“It could be cool to check out a different skating rink,” Adora answers casually. Or, she thinks she answers casually, but Bow and Glimmer both giggle, so… maybe not.

The pizza shows up shortly after Glimmer finishes putting a fourth coat of polish on Adora’s toenails. (Why is this one clear again? Glimmer must be messing with her. There’s no way people regularly put two coats of polish that no one can see on their nails!)

“Don’t you dare stand up right now! We’ll bring your pizza to you,” Glimmer shouts when Adora attempts to get up. 

Glimmer is going to do really well at roller derby. She’s seriously scary when she wants to be.

They spend the rest of the night eating way too much pizza, talking about college, and watching more cartoons. Glimmer freaks out a little bit when she finds out Adora only washes her face when she takes a shower, but otherwise the rest of the night is uneventful. There are quite a few empty bedrooms in the house, as Bow is the only one of his siblings who still lives there, but they wind up crashing in his room in sleeping bags. 

“Won’t your dads be upset that you have girls sleeping in your room?” Adora asks. 

“They know he doesn’t have this level of game,” Glimmer scoffs.

Bow hits her shoulder with a pillow. 

“They trust me. Besides, I’m bi. It’s not like there’s a whole lot of difference between having boys or girls sleep over.” 

Adora hadn’t really thought about that before. She wonders if her parents would still let her have girls sleep over if she told them she was gay. They would be okay with her coming out, she’s pretty sure. They only have supportive things to say about gay celebrities. It would probably not be a big deal. 

But maybe she’ll wait a little longer, just in case. 

\---

When they wake up the next morning, Bow’s dads are making breakfast.

“He’s got eggs. He knows how to use them!” Lance sings intermittently over the course of about ten minutes until George grabs his face with both hands.

“I’m going to need you to stop,” George says with a pleading look in his eyes.

Lance kisses his forehead and then continues to hum the melody. 

They are really cute together, which is maybe a weird thing for Adora to think about her friend’s dads. They’re also the only adult gay couple she knows. At least, the only out adult gay couple she knows; she has her suspicions about the gym teacher and the music teacher at her school. Adora doesn’t see herself raising 13 children and singing parody songs about eggs, but it’s nice to imagine having a long term partner. 

After breakfast, Glimmer insists on an ‘emergency’ trip to Sephora. 

It’s a little overwhelming. 

They spend an hour in the store. Glimmer keeps swatching things, even though the first foundation she tried looked close enough to Adora. She’s asked a truly unnecessary number of questions about what her skin is like. (It’s skin! It does skin things! She really doesn’t think about it very much.) Glimmer winds up buying herself more eyeshadow and they pick up a foundation sample for Adora. 

Adora is rewarded with a mall pretzel for her patience. 

Bow and Glimmer spend two hours doing her makeup, hair, and nails. Seriously, she had no idea people spent this long coloring their faces in. They poke at her with all sorts of different brushes. Then, she finds out about something else Glimmer bought. 

“I don’t need false eyelashes!” Adora complains. She has eyelashes! They’re maybe a little pale, but Glimmer had already put mascara on her. 

“They’ll look so cute, though!” Glimmer pouts.

It’s not fair. Adora can’t be expected to resist Glimmer when she pouts.

She lets Glimmer glue hair above her eyeballs. Seriously, she has a little tube of glue, and she literally glues them to Adora’s face. It makes her eyelids feel heavy, like she’s tired. She knows Glimmer will kill her if she tries to take a nap.

Bow and Glimmer leave the room for Adora to change into her dress. Neither of them want her to see her makeup and hair until the whole look is complete. It seems silly. She knows what she looks like! She’s seen her own face! 

But then she looks in the mirror, and…

“Oh my god,” she whispers.

“What do you think?” Glimmer asks smugly.

Glimmer likes to use a lot of bold eyeshadows and lipsticks for herself, but what she’s done to Adora looks pretty understated. Her eyes look wider and brighter than they usually do. The bold, winged eyeliner reminds her of old Hollywood. And, okay, she'll never tell Glimmer, but the false lashes do make everything look better. They aren't that big, but they really make her eyes stand out. Her skin looks like it’s glowing, and her cheeks have a soft flush. 

“Thank you,” is all she can really say. She feels like Cinderella. It’s like she’s seeing herself for the first time.

\---

She stops by home quickly so her parents can take pictures of her and her prom date can pick her up. Her mom cries and tells her she looks grown up. It’s weird, but it’s also sweet, so she just hugs her. 

Her parents insist on taking pictures of her with her prom date. His name is Kevin, and Adora had met him three times before tonight. His sister, Madison, had arranged the date; Adora hasn’t even talked to him about prom. They pose awkwardly for photos, and he gives her a corsage to put on her wrist. Her dad teases him about not keeping Adora out too late. 

Prom is fine. It’s nice, really. It’s in this big hotel downtown, and it’s ridiculously fancy for a bunch of teenagers. She dances, mostly with some of her single friends, but a few times with her prom date.. The catering is decent,, and Adora is never one to turn down free food. 

Then it gets to the night and Kevin drives her home. It feels different than the drive to the hotel. She’s not sure what to say, but there’s a tension that wasn’t there before.

“Adora… I think you’re really nice and I had a fun time with you tonight.”

Oh, god. 

Was he feeling date feelings? 

Adora was not prepared for this. 

“And it was really sweet of Madison to set us up. I’m really glad I didn’t have to go to prom alone,” Kevin continues.

Please don’t let this boy try to kiss me, Adora thinks desperately. He wouldn’t try to kiss her while he’s driving on the highway, would he?

“But I have a girlfriend!” he says. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you! I haven’t told my family. Madison suggested we go together, and I just… didn’t know how to tell her I couldn’t be on a date with you.”

“Oh, thank god,” Adora sighs. “You’re great, but I definitely don’t think of you like that.”

“Really?” he asks. “Madison told me you said I was cute.”

“Madison told me you thought I was cute!” Adora says. “Ugh, what the hell Madison. No, I definitely did not say that”

“Wow, thanks,” Kevin laughs. 

Adora doesn’t have a whole month left before graduation. Kevin is going to college out of state in the fall, and she doesn’t have any classes with him this semester. He’s already told her several times he’s not close to his sister.

So the stakes are very low. 

She could tell him right now. She really doesn’t think he would tell Madison. He’s already keeping his own secret from her.

“I’m gay,” she says, quickly, in a high, strained voice. “I don’t want to date guys. I am just so gay. For girls.”

It’s even less elegant than her conversation with Bow and Glimmer. Her word choice was so weird. 

But she feels that white-hot feeling in her chest again. 

She did it. She could probably do it again. Maybe with better words, but…she did it. 

“Madison definitely didn’t tell me that,” Kevin says slowly. 

“She doesn’t know. No one knows. Well, I’ve told some friends who go to a different school, but no one at our school,” Adora answers.

“I won’t tell her,” he says quickly. “You could. She wouldn’t be weird about it. Like, half of our cousins are gay. But I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thanks,” Adora replies. Maybe she’ll tell Madison. Maybe she won’t.

They spend the rest of the drive talking about Kevin’s girlfriend. He’d met her on World of Warcraft, and after months of playing together, they’d found out that they were starting at the same school in fall. They haven’t met yet, but they spend hours chatting and texting. It’s really sweet. 

“Do you have a girlfriend?” he asks, after gushing about Katelynn for most of the ride home. 

“Oh, no,” Adora says quickly. “No, there’s nobody, who… nope.”

“It sounds like you maybe have someone in mind?” he says lightly.

She could totally gush about Catra for the rest of the drive. Bow and Glimmer have been troopers about it, but there’s only so many times she can tell them about her hair or her eyes (or her smile or her sense of humor or her laugh or…) without feeling like she’s absolutely lost it. Still, it feels too personal. She knows there's momentum building between her and Catra. It's still unclear where that will take them, but it's exciting and new. It feels fresh and delicate; she's afraid that if she talks about it too much, it will go away. 

“Not really,” she answers. 

They talk a little about the dance for the rest of the drive. It’s nice. 

She can’t help but wonder what it would have been like to go to prom with an actual date. It would have been nice to dance with someone who gave her butterflies in her stomach, to pick coordinating outfits, to stay out late and make out in her car. 

Maybe she’ll get to have that. Maybe even some time soon. Maybe with Catra, she dares to hope.


	5. The One Where They Follow Each Other on Instagram

It’s two weeks before tryouts, one week before her semester ends, and Adora is freaking out.

She has final papers to complete for three of her classes. She has two tests to study for, and a group project (why, Mrs. Ellis, why?!) to complete. 

And absolutely zero motivation. 

EU has already offered her a scholarship! She knows she’s in, and she knows how badly she’d have to screw up the next week to lose admission. Tryouts feel much more pressing. Adora has really poured herself into this. If she doesn’t make it, she could always try out next year, but then she’d have to watch Bow and Glimmer skate without her. She wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with them. Will they even want to hang out with her if they spend a whole bunch of time together that she isn’t a part of?

And of course, she wouldn’t have an excuse to be around Catra.

Sure, Catra will be going to the same college as Adora, but so will thousands of others. It’s likely their paths won’t actually cross at EU. Roller Derby is her only chance to get to know her. 

And of course, tryouts are the day after graduation. Sure, she’ll have a few days between finishing her classes and the graduation ceremony, but everything is crammed so close together that she’s really starting to feel the panic. At least her summer job doesn’t start for a few more weeks. 

She’s at the second to last clinic before finals, and she’s feeling pretty good about how she’s holding it together. As she’s gearing up, Bow walks in. He smiles at her, but as he gets closer, he grimaces. 

“Are you okay?” Bow asks her immediately. 

“What? Yeah. Are you okay?” she replies, but she knows her tone is pretty frazzled. 

“If my freshman year of college has taught me anything, it’s what someone looks like when they’ve barely slept,” Bow replies, fastening his knee pads. “Seriously, are you sure you should be here? Glimmer isn’t coming today so she can get ready for finals.” 

“I’m fine! I sleep, like, all the time!” That’s maybe not fully truthful. She’s probably gotten twelve hours of sleep over the last three nights. Still- that's _some_ sleep every night! 

“Take care of yourself, okay?” Bow replies softly. 

They’ve just finished putting on their gear when Catra comes in. She’s alone today. The minute she catches sight of Adora and Bow, she frowns. 

“Hey,” she says in an affronted tone. 

For a moment, Adora is nervous that she has done something to offend Catra. (Probably staring at her too much.) Then she realizes that Catra is looking straight at Bow. She can't really imagine Bow doing anything to upset anyone. 

“How the hell did you find my Instagram?” she asks Bow. She wheels her bag over to the chairs across from them and sits down.

Adora has never seen someone angrily put on elbow pads before. 

“Lonnie tagged you in a picture,” Bow says. “I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

“You’re following _Lonnie_?” Catra asks. 

“I’m following pretty much everyone I’ve met here,” Bow answers easily. “I like to keep in touch with people.”

He’d followed Adora on Instagram within days of meeting her. She’d initially been a little surprised when he’d asked for her username, but after knowing him for a few months, she realized he was just super friendly. He posts pretty often; in a few months of knowing him, he’s posted more pictures with Adora than she has posted of herself since she got Instagram in middle school.

“I won’t be upset if you turn down my request to follow you,” he says after several moments of Catra not saying anything.

“Ugh, whatever, I don’t care if you follow me,” Catra says. 

“I really liked your prom suit in your picture with Lonnie,” he continues.

(Prom suit? _Prom suit_? Is there a sneaky way for Adora to follow Catra as well? She cannot emphasize how much she needs to see this picture.)

“I bet you did,” Catra replies, but there’s no heat this time. "Oh, hey Adora."

She says it so casually, like she'd just realized Adora was there. 

(Any time Catra enters a room, Adora is aware.)

"Hey," Adora replies weakly. "Oh, looks like it's time for us to warm up!"

She grabs Bow's elbow to pull him toward the track. 

“If you promise to get eight hours of sleep tonight, I’ll send you that picture of her from prom,” Bow tells her as soon as they are out of earshot from Catra. 

Adora really treasures her friendship with Bow.

*****

Practice is really awful that night. She falls down more than she has in months. At one point, she falls over doing a crossover, which she hasn’t struggled with for weeks. Her frustration just makes everything worse. By the time they get to their first water break, Adora feels defeated.

“How are you feeling today?” Perfuma asks her gently.

“I’m fine,” she says, but the lie is obvious.

“What have you been doing for self-care?” Perfuma asks. 

“I eat vegetables?” Adora answers. “I run twenty miles a week.”

“But what have you been doing to center yourself?” Perfuma responds. There’s no irony in Perfuma’s tone. Adora doesn’t know her to be sarcastic or hurtful. She’s never met anyone who has been as transparently compassionate. But also…

Sometimes Adora has no idea what Perfuma is talking about.

“I hope you’re taking care of your emotional well-being as well as your physical well-being,” Perfuma says after several moments of Adora not answering. “I’m sorry if I overstepped. Let me know if you need any support.”

Perfuma puts a comforting hand on Adora’s shoulder and then skates back to the track before Adora has a chance to respond. 

*****

Her skating is a little stronger after her conversation with Perfuma. She’s still tired and not as focused as she’d like to be, but she tries to pull it together a little better. Maybe she will skip the next clinic, she decides. 

Once practice is over, Bow gets his gear off as quickly as he can and heads home. Apparently it’s family game night, which gets very competitive in the Archer household. 

As soon as he leaves, Catra turns to her.

“So what's his deal? He’s not going to, like, serial kill me is he?” Catra asks. 

“Bow?” Adora scoffs. “No. The worst he’ll do is send you too many emojis.”

“Ugh,” Catra replies. She starts throwing her gear in her bag with no apparent rhyme or reason.

“Oh, no, he’s super nice,” Adora says, hoping she hasn’t thrown her friend under the bus. “He might be the nicest person I’ve ever met.”

Catra quirks an eyebrow at her. She pulls the ponytail holder out of her hair, holds it between her teeth, and begins applying dry shampoo with the same level of intensity she seems to do everything. White powder clouds the air, but it smells like lemons, so Adora doesn’t mind. 

“I thought he was with Sparkles?” she asks, words muffled by the ponytail holder still in her mouth.

“Glimmer? No, they're friends. Although I guess I could see it,” she starts. Then she realizes what Catra said. “Why does that matter?”

“Well if you think he’s so nice...” Catra huffs, trailing off at the end. The implication is clear, though. 

“Most people think their friends are nice!” Adora responds. She’s finally got her gear off. She tries to fluff her ponytail back up, but her hair poof has been crushed by her helmet, and there’s no point in fixing it when she’s just going to go home and do homework. “I’m not going to date Bow!”

“But I thought he was the nicest person you’ve ever met?” Catra asks. Her tone is playful again.

“He is!” Adora insists. She’s not sure how Catra has gotten this good at pushing her buttons so quickly. She knows how this is supposed to go- it’s the perfect opportunity for her to tell Catra she’s not interested in men. Then she realizes that Catra has actually put a lot of her cards on the table. “Wait, why do you care?” 

“I don’t!” Catra huffs, but she’s also blushing, just a little. 

"I'm pretty sure you're not trying to date him," Adora continues. Okay, maybe she's pushing things a little bit, but Catra pushed her first. 

"Definitely not," Catra says with a scoff. "He is very not my type."

"Well, he's not mine either," Adora replies. It feels a daring. Adora knows Bow's a catch. If she was even a little bit interested in guys, she's pretty sure she'd be into him. 

"Oh really? So what is your type?" Catra asks slowly, and wow. That's a whole lot of eye contact. 

She's definitely trapped herself in a corner. The most accurate answer she could give here is "you", but Adora can't imagine being that forward. She could be coy, or she could lie, or she could just say "women" and get it over with. She's still working out how to respond when Scorpia approaches them. 

“So, hey, glad you’re having fun here,” Scorpia begins. “But I have to lock up, and I’ve got Perfuma’s yoga class tomorrow, so…”

“Sorry, Scorpia,” Adora says with a blush, and she grabs her bag.

“So how is _yoga with Perfuma_?” Catra drawls. They all head for the door.

“It’s actually been really hard,” Scorpia says. “Perfuma makes everything look easy. She’s so flexible.”

“”That seems useful for yoga,” Adora says.

“For yoga,” Catra says in a very serious tone, but she winks at Adora. 

Adora gets in her car as quickly as she can and turns the music up. She is in absolutely no position to handle Catra winking at her. 

*****

It turns out that Bow’s offer to send Adora one of Catra’s prom pictures is unnecessary, because when she gets home from practice, she finds that Catra has followed her on Instagram. She immediately clicks to follow her back. 

She texts Bow immediately to let him know. He texts back "😍❤️🧡💛💚💙💜👭🌈🎉", but she doesn't really know what to do with that, so she ignores him. 

Her request is approved within minutes. 

She sets an alarm on her phone for half an hour. She can cyber-stalk Catra until the alarm goes off, she reasons, but then she has to get started on one of her papers. 

The newest photos are from prom. Adora knows nothing about fashion. She knows absolutely zero about fabrics or color combinations or styling, but one thing she does know- Catra is gorgeous. Catra is always gorgeous, but her prom suit is something else.

It’s a deep burgundy color with a little bit of a satiny sheen. The fit is impeccable. Her shirt is maroon. She has an unfastened black bow tie around her neck. Her hair, usually wildy flowing waves is pulled away from her face. Her black eyeliner is sharp enough to kill. The smirk on her face is deadly. 

Adora supposes Lonnie looks nice in her dress. It’s red. 

She flops back on her bed and groans. She’s thankful that she did not have to see this outfit in person. There’s no way she could have reacted in a way that was anything but obvious. 

Catra doesn’t have anywhere near as many photos posted as Bow, but she has more than Adora. There are several with Lonnie, a few older ones with Scorpia, some people who must be her other friends from school, and a whole lot of photos of her skating. She’s even got a few videos. It’s mesmerizing to watch her skate. She’s not quite dancerly- there’s something sharp and intense about her movements. It looks deliberate and easy, but mostly it looks like she's having fun. 

She gets notification that Catra has liked one of her photos, so she clicks over to see which one. It’s a picture of her in her prom dress with Bow and Glimmer, laughing. By the time Adora clicks on the picture, she sees Catra has also left a comment. _Nice dress, princess_. 

That’s flirting, right?

Catra is flirting with her. She must be.

There’s no way Catra just goes around telling everyone their dresses are nice and calling them ‘princess’.

...right?!

She clicks through to Bow’s profile and sifts through the first twenty photos. The only one Catra has liked has Adora in it. She definitely hasn’t commented on any of them. 

Lonnie’s profile is public. Adora clicks through an embarrassing number of pictures. Catra has liked several of them, and commented on a few, but she definitely hasn’t called Lonnie ‘princess’. The only comment that seems vaguely flirtatious is _I told you so_ on a picture of Lonnie in her prom dress, but the comment below (also from Catra) is just four middle finger emojis, so Adora is fairly sure she’s not flirting. 

So.

Catra is flirting with her.

Probably.

Maybe. 

Adora has never deliberately flirted with anyone in her life. She’s also not entirely sure what a successful outcome would look like here. If Catra is flirting with her and she flirts back, then what? They date? Adora can’t imagine dating Catra. 

She can’t imagine kissing Catra.

Okay, she can imagine it.

And she does.

Pretty frequently.

But she can’t imagine a version of herself that would have the confidence to kiss Catra. 

Probably, Catra would eventually take the initiative to kiss her. It would be really unfair of Catra to wear Suggestive Office Supply t-shirts and get a Suggestive Manicure if she didn’t plan on backing them up.

However.

That brings up another thing.

Could Adora have _sex_ with Catra?

She has thought about it.

She has thought about it quite a lot.

(Sometimes she even thinks about it in the shower, and that leads to some very interesting results.)

It is a very enticing idea. 

But… Adora has never even kissed anyone. The idea of kissing Catra or even holding her hand feels overwhelming. Overwhelming in a good way but still like something that seems too good to be true. 

But what would Catra want? Would she have the patience for a girlfriend who could barely handle kissing? What if Catra doesn’t want to date Adora at all? So far she's been flirtatious, but it's mostly been really suggestive. Maybe she just wants to hook up.

Adora is pretty sure she couldn’t do that. 

She’s also pretty sure she’s invested too much time and thought into a few interactions. They don't really know each other very well yet. Really, at this point she's attracted to Catra, but maybe they aren't compatible at all. She’s fully aware, and yet. She can’t stop thinking about Catra. Maybe she’ll find out they want different things. Maybe they’ll go out and realize they have nothing in common. Maybe she’ll get her heart broken. 

(Or maybe this feeling that is too big for her chest is worth fighting for.)

Adora is maybe not the boldest person out there. Her parents still don’t know she’s gay. As it stands, only Bow, Glimmer, and _Kevin_ know. 

She likes three of Catra’s photos on Instagram. One from prom, one of her skating. And one from pride. Catra’s wearing the same scissor shirt that originally made Adora lose her mind. She’s got a rainbow flag draped over her shoulders, and her head is thrown back in a laugh. It’s the happiest she’s ever seen Catra look, and it’s absolutely breathtaking. 

Liking a few photos on social media is probably not a huge step, but it feels like something.

Her alarm goes off, and she starts writing her sociology paper. She tries to put Catra out of her mind, but, well… 

She hasn’t exactly been good at that lately. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My cat walked across my keyboard while I was writing this chapter, so I wanted to share a special message from her: iooooooccuxp[-00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000


	6. Tryouts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tryouts and some quality time with Bow!

The day of tryouts comes, and Adora wants to throw up. Seriously, it would take just about nothing for her to vomit everywhere. Her stomach feels gross, her heart feels like it’s working double time, and yet she feels energized. She’s been working hard for months, and the progress she’s made is undeniable. Her skating skills still aren’t as strong as Glimmer’s or Catra’s, but she can do things that seemed impossible only a few weeks ago. 

By the time Catra shows up (in a crop top, because she wants Adora to suffer), Adora feels like she’s going to vibrate out of her skin. 

“Are you ready?” Glimmer asks her. Glimmer looks like she’s prepared for a physical fight: head high and shoulders back but something in her eyes is just a little too intense for the situation. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Adora tells her before putting her mouth guard in. 

“We’ve got this,” Bow tells them. 

It seems weird that Adora just met these two a few months ago, but she feels like she’s known them her whole life. She’s not quite sure she believes that she’s got this, but she knows that Bow believes it, and that helps. 

The skate clinics have largely been led by a few skaters, so there are several people at tryouts that Adora has never seen before. Adora already knows the co-captains of the teams: Scorpia and Double Trouble for the Horde and Mermista and Perfuma for Bright Moon. She’s also met Sea Hawk, the Head of Officiating. A tall, stern looking woman with long dark hair and flawless bronze brown skin approaches the group.

“I haven’t had the chance to meet most of you yet. I am Angella,” she begins. (This is when Adora remembers that this is Glimmer’s _mom._ She hasn’t met Glimmer’s parents yet, but she definitely wants to make a good impression. Also, she had no idea Glimmer's mom was British, and her accent is _awesome_.) “I am the bench coach for Bright Moon. It’s lovely to see all of you here to try out to skate for Etheria Roller Derby. When I was a skater myself-”

“Yes, welcome,” another woman interrupts. Angella’s eyes narrow, but she says nothing. She is not quite as tall as Angella, but somehow she is more intimidating. It must be her tone, which sounds like she thinks they are all wasting her time. “I’m Shadow Weaver. I am the bench coach for the Horde. Today we’ll be deciding who will be moving forward with Etheria Roller Derby.”

“You’ve all done so much hard work!” Perfuma interjects. Neither of the older women look entirely pleased with her, but she continues speaking. “We’ve had a wonderful time working with all of you in the clinics, and if we aren’t able to bring you on to train with us, we’d still love to see you back at next year’s tryouts.”

Angella and Shadow Weaver explain the tryouts to them. There will be a series of drills designed to demonstrate the skills they have been working on during the clinics. If they are chosen to move forward, they will start practicing with the league with light contact until they are able to pass the minimum skills test. If they pass the minimum skills test by the end of the summer, they will be drafted to one of the two home teams. Anyone who is still unable to pass the minimum skills test will not be able to stay with the league.

Once the tryouts begin, Adora’s mind goes blank. She’s pretty sure she does okay. She falls down once, but she springs back up pretty quickly. After ten minutes of warmups and maybe a half hour or pretty intense skating, they are all sent away and told to return in an hour to hear their results.

Adora knows she did her best, but she has absolutely no idea if that’s good enough. 

“Lunch?” Bow asks Adora and Glimmer. Smiling, he shoulders his gear bag to leave.

“Ugh, please,” Glimmer replies as she finishes putting away her helmet. “Take my mind off of this.”

“I like food,” Adora says, although her feelings align perfectly with Glimmer's. 

“Anyone else want to get lunch with us?” Bow asks the rest of the group. 

For as close as she’s gotten to Bow and Glimmer (and as much as she thinks about Catra), Adora hasn’t really gotten to know the other skaters. Lonnie tells them she’s going home to take a shower, and playfully tells them to have fun smelling like ass in public. Kyle and Starla, the other two ref recruits agree to come along, and Catra tells them she doesn’t have anything better to do.

“I can drive everyone, if you want,” Kyle tells them. “I drove my mom’s old minivan, so I have lots of room.”

The minivan is kind of a beast. Adora is pretty sure she is about the same age as this monstrosity. Inside it has the weirdest multi-panel sunroof she’s ever seen. It fits all of them, though, and it’s pretty comfortable. 

By the time they get to the restaurant, they learn that Kyle goes to Etheria Community College and works at Target part time. Starla is a lot more interesting. Her sister skates for ERD and her brother is a referee. They get so caught up in her conversation about her family that they are still talking about them when their food arrives. 

“My brother used to play, but men’s derby is kind of a shit show, and he didn’t really want to be involved with that,” Starla tells them cheerfully. 

“I went to one of the bouts for the men’s team and it was not for me,” Bow agrees. “When did your brother skate with them?”

“He didn’t. He skated with ERD,” Starla says. There’s a brief pause, and Adora tries to subtly peek around to see if she’s the only one who is confused about why her brother skated for the women’s team. “After he transitioned, he became a ref. He actually likes it a lot better than skating competitively.”

Before derby, Adora had definitely had her thoughts about how gendered sports are. It was frustrating to her as a kid to play against the boys in gym class, but never competitively on a team. She’d never really thought about how that rigid gendering also affects trans athletes. It doesn’t seem fair that Starla’s brother doesn’t get to skate with the team anymore, although it’s nice that he’s happy reffing. It was nice that the team had a place for nonbinary athletes like Double Trouble, but the idea that some skaters don't feel welcome on the women's team or the men's team makes her think that there's got to be a better way to do things. 

“It kind of sucks that he doesn’t get to compete anymore,” Catra says, fiddling with her straw. She's spent quite a bit of their meal fiddling with her straw. 

“I mean, yeah. It does. There’s a casual group that he scrimmages with sometimes in the summer, though,” Starla says. 

The group goes quiet for a minute, eating their burgers. Glimmer steals sweet potato fries from Bow. It doesn’t take long for the silence to get uncomfortable. 

“Are you guys nervous? I’m really nervous,” Kyle says suddenly. 

“No, everyone else is feeling great,” Catra snaps. 

Maybe if Adora hadn’t spent most of their time in the restaurant watching Catra out of the corner of her eye, she wouldn’t have seen it coming. Kyle probably hadn’t been watching Catra slowly shred her paper napkin. He probably also hadn’t noticed her sorting the sugar packets four separate times. 

Kyle eyes go wide at her tone. He looks like he’s about to respond, but Bow speaks up first.

“I think we’re all pretty nervous,” he says gently. “But I also think we all tried our best.”

Catra lets out a tense huff. Adora wishes she had a way to comfort her, but she’s not sure what to say. Of course Catra’s going to be drafted. She’s an incredible skater, and she’ll make a great asset to the team. Still, it doesn't feel like something that would go over well. 

“I think it’s about time to head out. Does anyone else need a to-go box?” Adora asks, instead of saying anything she actually wants to say. 

*****

When Adora finds out she’s made the team, she feels incredible. Glimmer immediately grabs her hand and squeezes. Adora squeezes back- Glimmer’s name was already called. Sure, she still has to pass the minimum skills test at the end of the summer to be officially drafted, but they chose her. Her hard work has paid off. 

Only three people wind up getting cut from the group, and none of them are people she has spent much time with. (Catra makes it. Adora knew she would, but it’s still nice to watch a tiny smile cross her face. Lonnie, who is also drafted, knocks her shoulder into Catra's affectionately once her name is called.) The ref recruits get pulled over to the side, and the captains give them a little more information about what their summer training will look like. 

“Who’s excited about contact drills?!” Perfuma asks joyfully just before the ref recruits join back up with the group. 

The recruits let out a cheer, but Adora is pretty sure everyone is just giddy. Perfuma could ask them anything and they’d lose their shit. 

“There’s something I think you’ll be more excited about,” Double Trouble teases.

“Can I tell them? Scorpia pleads. “Can I-”

“Ugh, fine, just tell them,” Mermista groans.

“ERD is skating in the pride parade this year,” Scorpia starts in the most excited tone Adora has ever heard her use. That’s really saying something, because Scorpia generally sounds excited just to be alive. This is even more excited than Scorpia gets about protein powder, though, so it must be a big deal. “And you’re all invited to skate with us!”

Absolute chaos. 

Glimmer jumps up and down, a couple of the other skaters start clapping, and there are a few shouts. 

It is exciting news. Adora is excited, kind of. It must be excitement, because she doesn't quite feel like she can catch her breath. 

“Alright, go home!” Mermista tells them. “We’ll email you the details!”

“And we’re so proud of all of you!” Perfuma adds. 

Bow and Glimmer chatter excitedly as they walk to their cars. 

“I’m so excited for contact drills,” Glimmer sighs happily. “And the parade!! Adora, should we do another makeover?!”

“Sure,” Adora says, but she definitely does not feel sure.

“Ugh, why do I have five missed calls from my mom? She literally knows exactly where I am right now,” Glimmer huff. She gives Bow and Adora quick hugs. “Maybe we’ll meet up at Bow’s again next weekend?”

Adora nods quietly as Glimmer climbs in her car. 

“Hey,” Bow says softly, as soon as Glimmer is gone. “There’s a park a few blocks from here. Wanna check out the duck pond?”

“I would love that,” Adora tells him. She really hasn’t spent much one-on-one time with Bow, but he is one of her favorite people, and ducks are cute. 

They talk about tryouts as they walk to the park. It’s a pretty small park, with a pond with a few benches next to it and a playground. No one else is there right now. 

“Ducks or swings?” Bow asks. 

It’s a very difficult choice.

“Swings first?” Adora says, and Bow nods. 

The last time Adora went to a playground was years ago. The swings have always been her favorite, but she’s been really working on her biceps and back lately, so she’s pretty sure she could _dominate_ the monkey bars. Maybe she'll try later. 

She sits down and pumps her legs to get a pretty substantial swing going. Then she notices that Bow is going higher than her, so of course she has to beat him. He catches on and starts swinging even higher. Eventually they are both swinging as high as they can, and the swing set starts making a creaking noise. 

The wind whips through her hair. She feels young and _alive_ in a way she hasn’t for a long time. 

“Wanna jump?” she asks.

“From this high?” Bow asks incredulously.

“Three…,” she starts, when they are at the crest of their swing. When they get back up to the top, she keeps counting. “Two… one!”

Bow lets out a shriek as he jumps, but he sticks the landing. Adora almost lands on two feet, but her heel slips and she falls. She’s laughing so hard it hurts by the time Bow gets over to her. He holds out his hand to pull her up, and she briefly considers trying to pull him down with her but 1) Bow would never do that to her and 2) he is very strong and she isn’t sure she’d be able to pull him over. 

When they make it over to the duck pond, Adora has managed to catch her breath. It’s too late in the year for ducklings, but the grown ducks are still very cute. They watch them swim lazily across the pond. Occasionally, one sticks their head under the water to catch something, little webbed feet kicking up in the air.

“You don’t have to come to the parade if you don’t want to,” Bow suddenly says in a surprisingly serious tone. “And you definitely don’t need a makeover if you do go.”

“I want to skate in the parade,” Adora says quickly, because she _does_. There’s more on her mind, but she’s not sure how to say it, so she keeps watching the ducks. 

“I think you’ll have a lot of fun at the parade,” he tells her. “There’s a lot to do after the parade as well- a bunch of local businesses set up booths, and there’s food." 

“I like food,” Adora says, because she’s not sure what else to say. 

Bow laughs. 

“I just don’t know about dressing up,” Adora says. “What if I get tagged in a picture and my parents see it?”

“No one should be tagging you in pictures you don’t want to be tagged in,” Bow says with a frown. “But yeah, someone might. I’m sorry, that sucks.”

“Maybe I should just tell my parents,” she says, but the idea makes her stomach hurt. 

“How do you think they’d react?” Bow asks. 

“I know they wouldn’t disown me,” Adora says immediately. “And they aren’t, like, homophobic.”

There’s a long pause.

“Is there anything you’re worried about?” he asks gently. 

“I just don’t want them to see me differently,” she says. “They have this idea of who I am, and I don’t want them to think that- that I’ve been lying to them.”

“You don’t have to tell them if you aren’t ready,” Bow says. 

She knows this, but it’s nice to hear. Sometimes she feels like Glimmer and Bow are so ahead of her, like she's too late and she'll never catch up. 

“I was actually pretty nervous about coming out to my dads,” Bow says after a long pause. 

It’s absolutely not what Adora expected him to say, and all she can do is stare at him.

“I know it sounds dumb,” he says. “I wasn’t even the first one of my siblings to come out. Some people already had… a lot to say about me having two dads, and I didn’t want anyone to think it was because of them. I don’t want to pretend I understand your situation, but even under the best circumstances, coming out can be really hard.”

Hearing that Bow also struggled to come out feels validating in a huge way. She hugs him. They stay like that, holding each other on a park bench, for quite a while. He’s warm and strong, and she feels safe in his arms. She’s never really hugged anyone for this long, but Bow isn’t pulling away, and it’s nice. There’s a level of intimacy to it that she isn’t used to. It’s _Bow,_ though, so there’s no weird undertone to it. 

“Is this why you asked me to come to the park with you?” Adora asks after a few minutes. She pulls away from the hug. 

“Not really,” he says. “I just like hanging out with you. I did want to make sure you were okay, though.”

“I’m okay,” she tells him. 

By the time they head back to their cars, she feels a lot better. 

*****

Of course, when Adora gets home, she sees an email with more information about the pride parade. ERD is selling t-shirts with their logo in a rainbow print. It seems like the perfect answer- she can just get a shirt to represent her league and she doesn’t have to worry about what to wear or what anyone will think. The idea of owning a rainbow roller derby t-shirt feels exciting and special and _gay_. 

She takes a quick shower and tells her parents that she’s pretty much made the team. They are excited for her. Her mom even tells her she’s proud of her, which makes something in Adora’s chest feel tight. 

Then, as they’re making dinner, she casually drops the fact that the league is skating in the pride parade.

“Well that sounds fun!” her mom says. She nudges her dad. “Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“Sure!” her dad says, fully focused on chopping a carrot. “Sounds great!”

“I’ve never been to a pride parade,” her mom continues. “Should we come watch you skate?”

“No, no,” Adora says quickly. If her parents saw her around Catra, the gig would absolutely be up. “No. I don’t think you need to do that.” 

“You’ll have to let us know when you have a game!” her mom says. "We'd love to meet your new friends!" 

Adora has maybe talked a whole lot about Bow and Glimmer recently, but it's only because they are the _best_. Her parents would like Bow and Glimmer, she's pretty sure. It doesn't seem possible that anyone would dislike Bow, and Glimmer is smart and confident in a way she knows her parents will respect. 

Of course, if her parents do come to a bout, they will have to see her around Catra, but she has months to get herself under control. 


	7. Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora goes to pride with her team!
> 
> (This is kind of a baby chapter, but some cute stuff happens.)

Glimmer drives them to the parade, because she is the only member of the Best Friends Squad who can handle driving downtown. It turns out the secret is swearing fervently at the other drivers. 

“Is your mom coming to the parade, too?” Adora asks once they’ve parked.

“Yeah, but I told her I needed to give you a ride, so don’t let her know I offered,” Glimmer says. “Besides, she always brings a bunch of league stuff in her car.”

The parade doesn’t start for another hour, but there are already a lot of people out. As they walk toward the side street where the parade begins, they see people staking out spots along the parade route with blankets and camping chairs. Some people are dressed in everyday clothes, but there are so many rainbows. She’s also seen a few other flags mixed in, but she doesn’t really recognize any of them. She’ll have to google them, she decides. Glimmer has striped shorts in pink, purple and blue, so when Adora sees a flag in those colors, she assumes it must be the bi pride flag. 

The closer they get to the parade’s start, the more people she sees. Then, she sees the floats, which are pretty awe inspiring. There are a lot of big name brands, but there are also local businesses, schools, religious groups, even a band. They only walk by about a dozen floats, but there are so many more, floats going further than her eyes can see. 

Before it even starts, the pride parade is absolutely wild. Adora has never seen anything like it in her life, and it makes her feel, for lack of a better term, _proud_. There is so much color and excitement and glitter. So much glitter. 

“Welcome!” Perfuma calls out to them as they reach the group. She’s already in the ERD t-shirt, pink shorts, and her skates. She has blue, pink, and white stripes painted on her cheek, and when Adora sneaks away to put her t-shirt on, she’s going to google that so she doesn’t make a fool of herself. “Mermista has the shirts; make sure you check in with her!”

As soon as they get their t-shirts, Bow reaches into his backpack and pulls out a pair of scissors. He cuts the bottom of the shirt off, before passing the scissors to Glimmer, who cuts the sleeves off of hers as well as a few inches off the bottom. 

“Adora?” he offers, but she just shakes her head. “Need anything else? I’ve got water, hydration tablets, protein bars, applesauce, glitter, sunscreen, and bandaids.”

“Ooh, can I borrow your sunscreen?” Adora asks. She is absolutely the worst at remembering to wear it, even though she burns easily. As she’s rubbing sunscreen into her arms, Bow and Glimmer change into their new shirts. Adora had hoped to find a bathroom to change in, but she guesses her sports bra covers more of her than a lot of swimsuits, so as soon as she finishes putting sunscreen on, she turns her back to quickly change shirts.

Of course, as soon as she starts pulling her shirt off, she hears someone approach,

“I heard you brought scissors?” they ask, and of course, it’s Catra. 

“Yeah, do you want to borrow them?” Bow asks. 

Adora struggles her way into the new shirt, and takes two deep breaths before she turns around.

Huge mistake. Can she just turn back around now? 

Catra is in a (strappy, black) sports bra and the most intriguing shorts Adora has ever seen. They are fully covered in a rainbow of sequins, but there are a few small patches of gold.

“Ooh, are the sequins on your shorts reversible?” Glimmer asks.

“Yeah, they turn gold,” she says. There is a moment of silence, in which Glimmer makes truly intense eye contact with Catra. “Ugh, fine, you can flip them.”

She turns her hip toward her, and Glimmer drags a finger through the sequins, flipping them to gold. She flips them back to rainbow and then gold a few more times. 

“This is so satisfying,” Glimmer says happily. “Thank you.”

Adora cannot look away. Glimmer is just casually rubbing Catra’s hip. Adora is jealous, but the idea of asking permission to touch Catra like that feels impossible. Also, she has touched Catra before, and she almost didn’t make it. The risk of blushing to death is too significant. She cannot chance it.

“Anyone else?” Catra asks dryly.

“Can I?” Bow asks brightly, somehow immune to Catra’s sarcasm. 

Catra raises an eyebrow, but when Bow doesn’t react, she just turns her hip to him and sighs. 

“This is what I get for letting Scorpia talk me into matching shorts,” Catra complains as Bow draws a heart in gold sequins. She makes eye contact with Adora. “I suppose you need to touch them, too?”

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” Adora says in a high voice.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Bow says reverently.

“It really is,” Glimmer agrees. 

Catra is still standing there, in a stupidly sexy sports bra and sparkly shorts. Her waist is so tiny. Her legs are so lean, and she doesn’t shave them. Adora usually doesn’t spend a lot of time worrying about what other people do and don’t shave, but right now it makes her think a lot about how Catra’s legs would feel if she touched them. She's pretty sure she'd like it _a lot_. Catra’s already in her skates, so she’s a little taller than Adora, for once. She looks at Adora expectantly.

Adora reaches out and flips two sequins with the smallest amount of pressure she can imagine,

“Yeah, that’s, uh, that’s so cool,” Adora says. She can feel the blush across her cheeks, the tips of her ears, down her neck, across her chest. 

“Oh, you’re _fun_ ,” Catra says with a wicked grin.

Adora knows she’s about to tease her more, but then Scorpia starts calling the group together. Catra _winks at her_ , and they all head toward Scorpia. 

“Does everyone who ordered a t-shirt have one? If you don’t, find Mermista!” Scorpia calls out. Her shorts do match Catra's and it's kind of a sight to behold. They seem even shorter on Scorpia's longer, more muscular legs. “The parade starts in fifteen minutes, so make sure your skates and gear are on, if you’re skating!”

There are a few more announcements. Also, Double Trouble is wearing a crop top that says “Skate Fast, Eat Ass.” If Adora had a quarter of the nerve Double Trouble has, she’s pretty sure she would already be dating Catra. She’d probably have come out to her parents when she was eleven and first realized why she never had crushes on boys like her friends. 

Once she puts her skates on, Glimmer takes her around and introduces her to some of the other skaters. 

“Oh, you haven’t met Spinerella and Netossa yet,” Glimmer says. “Spinerella was my babysitter for a long time. I actually wound up being the flower girl in their wedding.”

It’s the first time Adora meets women who are married to each other, and she has a lot of feelings about it. They are both so _cool_. Spinerella is a pediatrician and Netossa is a surgeon, and they have a dog. Adora gets to see about a dozen pictures of the dog (a rescued greyhound) before the parade starts. She is always happy to see pictures of people’s pets. It's not quite as exciting as meeting the pets, but Adora's pretty sure the parade would be a lot for a dog to handle. 

The parade is so much fun. Adora gets to pass out stickers to kids for most of it, and it’s great. Kids are great, stickers are great, and everyone around her is so excited to be there. It’s exciting to see same-sex parents with their kids. They actually skate past Bow’s dads at one point, and once Bow and Glimmer have been given back breaking hugs, Adora finds herself being pulled in, too. 

Several of the other skater’s parents are watching the parade as well. Scorpia’s moms are there, Perfuma’s parents are outside of their flower shop, and several other skaters who Adora doesn’t know as well have family members there. 

Adora feels a little bad for discouraging her parents from coming, but she’s also really glad they aren’t here. She feels a little bolder, knowing that they won’t see her here. She feels like she’s a part of something. 

It’s fun to see parents with their kids and businesses supporting the community, but it’s also pretty cool to see just how _weird_ the LGBTQ community is. There are people dressed head to toe in leather, drag queens with varying levels of makeup skills, and people dressed in animal costumes. Adora’s not sure what it has to do with being queer, but she’s glad everyone is having fun. 

It’s incredible, and a little overwhelming, and as previously stated, very glittery. 

By the time she gets to the end of the parade route, her feet hurt from being in skates for so long. Still, when some of the other skaters head over to check out the festival booths, she changes into her shoes and comes with. 

Bow and Glimmer make her try bubble tea for the first time. It seems like it’s going to be weird, but it turns out it’s the best thing ever. Once they’ve walked around for an hour, Adora has collected a tote from a local insurance company and all sorts of weird swag she’s not sure she’ll ever need. What does bug spray have to do with pride or local theater? Who knows, but now she has a teeny tiny bug spray.

“So… how was your first pride?” Glimmer asks as they share cheese curds at a picnic table. 

“Incredible,” Adora answers immediately. She feels the same euphoria she usually gets about five miles into a run. This feels like her community, and she wants desperately to hold on to this feeling. She should come out to her parents. Maybe she’ll get an undercut. Does Etheria U have a GSA? 

“I remember my first pride,” Glimmer says fondly.

“I don’t,” Bow says, just as fondly. 

"I'm really glad I'm here with you two," Adora tells them, and Bow grabs both of her hands, while Glimmer nudges her with her shoulder.

"Best Friends Squad at pride!" Bow cries out. A couple of people turn to look at them, but Adora honestly doesn't care.

"Best Friends Squad at pride!" she repeats, just as loudly. 

*****

When Adora gets home that night, she still feels the rush that’s been slowly building all day. Her parents are working on a puzzle on the coffee table, because that’s what they’re like. 

“How was the parade?” her dad asks. 

“I’m gay,” Adora says, quickly and forcefully, like an exhale.

There’s a moment of silence, and Adora wishes she could take it back. Her stomach hurts, she feels like she can’t breathe, she can feel her heartbeat speeding up-

“I guess it was a really good parade,” her mom says with a nervous giggle.

“Samantha,” her dad chides. “Adora, thanks for telling us.”

“You know this doesn’t change anything, right?” her mom says. 

Adora knows it's supposed to be supportive, and she is majorly relieved that neither of them are upset with her, but she doesn't agree that nothing has changed.

"How long have you known?" her dad asks in a weirdly soft voice. Her dad isn't a mean guy, but he's never soft like this, never this serious with her.

"A while," Adora answers quietly.

"Before roller derby?" her mom asks.

Adora considers telling her parents that she just figured it out a year ago. Maybe two years, so it doesn't seem like it has anything to do with derby. She considers it, but if she's telling the truth, she might as well tell the whole truth. 

"Before middle school."

"Oh," her mom says, and suddenly she's standing up to hug Adora. "Oh, Adora."

They aren't a huggy family. They love each other, but they don't really talk about their feelings a lot, and they definitely don't hug each other very often. Her dad comes up and wraps his arms around both of them, and Adora has never done this before. She hears a sniff, and she thinks for a moment that her mom is crying, but it's her _dad_. She's seen him cry once before, at her grandpa's funeral. 

"We love you, kid," her dad says. His tone starts to break just a little bit, and Adora feels a little lost. "You should be able to tell us anything. I'm sorry we didn't make you feel like you could."

She lets her parents hug her as long as they want. It's the longest hug either of her parents have ever given her. Then, her mom asks her if she wants to help them with their puzzle. 

Her dad has gone off to make chamomile tea, and Adora is trying to find all the pieces for a yellow balloon when she catches her mom staring at her.

"So... is there a girl?" her mom asks. 

"What? No!" Adora answers, and it's not really a lie. There's kind of a girl. There's definitely a girl. She's just not Adora's girl.

Her mom has tried to talk to her about crushes before, but it was always about boys. When Adora told her mom about roller derby, when she mentioned Glimmer and Bow, she'd even asked about Bow. Her mom is probably going to be totally insufferable when she finds out about Catra. She's already got a bit of a knowing smirk on her face, like she knows Adora isn't being one hundred percent honest with her.

"If you say so," her mom says, and she still has that look on her face. 

Her dad comes back with tea for them, and when he asks what he missed, her mom just smiles.

She's going to be totally insufferable when she finds out, and Adora almost finds herself looking forward to it. 


	8. The Bout in Frost City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The travel team has a bout out of town, so the Best Friend Squad goes on a mini road trip!

The summer starts to go by quickly. Adora’s busy all the time with derby, her job at her mom’s friend’s ice cream shop, or just hanging out with Bow and Glimmer. When the league lets them know that their travel team has a bout out of town, Bow starts trying to convince Glimmer and Adora they should go.

It’s a four hour drive, so they’d be staying in a hotel, and Adora wants to go so much. It’s exactly the break she needs. She just needs to help Bow convince Glimmer. 

“If I go, my mom’s just going to make me room with her!” Glimmer complains as they are gearing up for practice one day. 

“But we’ll already have a room!” Adora tells her. “Besides, I don’t know if my parents will let me go if it’s just me and Bow!”

“I thought you told them…” Bow starts but he interrupts himself.

“I told them I’m gay,” Adora says as loudly as she dares. Since telling her parents, she’s casually told a few of the other skaters and some of her coworkers at the ice cream shop. It’s gotten easier every time. “I still think they’d be weird about me staying in a hotel room with a guy.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Glimmer says.

They wind up working on one-on-one blocking that day, which is useful to learn, but it also involves more contact than their practices have so far. Mermista and Perfuma demonstrate the drill for them.

“We’ve talked about legal blocking zones and legal target zones a few times now, but as a quick reminder- you can block with any part of your torso, your hips, your upper arms, or your upper thigh. You can hit the front or side of your opponent’s torso, their hips, their upper thighs, or any part of their arms,” Perfuma tells them. “You might use one-on-one blocking to keep the jammer from getting by, or to keep another blocker away from your jammer. Remember- the blocking zones and target zones are for everyone’s safety. The refs will be watching!”

“We’re going to do this like speed dating,” Mermista says. “You have to keep moving forward during the drill, but group one will stay put when the whistle blows, and group two will move on to the next partner Make sure you practice blocking and being blocked.”

Mermista demonstrates blocking Perfuma for a moment, and they are literally chest to chest for most of it. Like, Adora has seen hugs with less body contact. 

They count off into two groups, and of course Catra winds up in the other group. Adora is fully okay with the idea that she’s going to press her body up against most of her teammates- that’s what the sport is like. She still doesn’t quite know how to function around Catra.

Happily, her first partner is Glimmer, which feels totally manageable. Glimmer’s kind of a powerhouse- she gets past Adora several times before they trade places. When they switch, Adora doesn’t have as much luck getting past Glimmer, although she still manages it twice. 

Adora holds her own against the other skaters. She even manages to get past Mermista once. She’s pretty sure Mermista was going easy on her, but she still feels proud of herself.

Then the real challenge comes: Catra.

“Hey,” she says as she power slides to a stop next to Adora. 

Catra blocks Adora first, and it takes Adora a while to let herself push against Catra.

“You’re going to have to come closer if you want to get past me,” Catra says after a few moments of Adora staying a full foot away from her.

Adora exhales sharply, and then skates right into Catra. She winds up right up against Catra’s chest. Catra’s really sweaty, which should be gross, but it just makes her think about other activities that would cause her to drip with sweat. 

“Is that all you’ve got?” Catra taunts, and Adora can feel her warm breath on her cheek.

She takes a quick step to the side, but Catra steps into a quick transition. Her back is suddenly to Adora, and Adora remembers that she can’t block anywhere near her spine. She pushes up against Catra, almost side to side. 

Catra is faster than Adora, and she’s more stable on her skates. That means the only thing Adora has on her is pure strength. She steps onto her toe stop and pushes hard. They move forward together. Adora tries to step to the side again, but Catra is right there. Any time Adora thinks she’s going to make it past her, Catra is just a little bit quicker. She doesn’t manage to get by her. 

And then it’s time to switch. 

Adora manages to stop Catra at first, face to face, but then Catra rolls off of her, sweeping around Adora.

They line back up, and Adora is able to hold her off a little longer this time. She’s able to turn around twice to stay ahead of Catra, but then she fakes Adora out and slides by on the other side.

Adora’s breathing pretty hard by the time Perfuma tells them all to take a water break.

“Nice work,” Adora tells Catra. As hard as it was to focus, she misses Catra’s body against hers already.

“You, too,” Catra says. Her arm brushes right against Adora’s as she skates over to the table where all of the water bottles are.

Adora was literally just pressed up against her, but that soft brush of her arm still makes her shiver. 

*****

When she gets home that night, she gets a text from Glimmer that she’ll come to the bout with them. It’s followed immediately by six texts from Bow, all of which consist solely of gifs and emojis. 

“So, a couple of my friends are heading to Frost City for derby. They’re getting a hotel room on Saturday night and driving back Sunday morning. Can I go with them?” Adora asks her parents over dinner. 

Her parents make mildly panicked eye contact for a moment before her mom responds.

“Who would be in the hotel room with you?” she asks.

“Glimmer and Bow,” Adora responds. She’s mentioned both of them to her parents before. They still haven’t met yet, but she’s talked about them enough that she’s hopeful they’ll approve.

“And how many beds will there be?” her mom asks.

“Two,” Adora answers, although they really haven’t discussed it. 

“And would you be sharing a bed with someone?” her dad asks.

“Maybe?” Adora says. She doesn’t really care one way or the other. 

“Wait, do we want her to share a bed with the boy or the girl?” her mom asks her dad. 

“She’s going off to college in a month. Does it really matter?” her dad replies. 

Her mom looks a little pained, so Adora just eats her peas and doesn’t say anything. Maybe if she eats vegetables, they will think she is responsible enough to go on a trip with her friends. 

“I guess not,” her mom answers. “Glimmer isn’t _the girl_ , is she?”

“There’s not a girl!” Adora whines.

“Wait, there’s a girl?” her dad asks.

“I just said there’s not a girl!” Adora repeats. Her parents smirk at her. She sighs loudly. “Glimmer’s not the girl. Can I go?”

Her parents are super smug for the rest of dinner, but she gets permission to go with Bow and Glimmer, and they don’t make her talk about Catra, so it works out okay.

*****

It’s the first time she’s had a weekend off since she started her summer job, and she’s ready to have a great time with her friends. Bow comes to pick her up at her house, and of course her parents have to embarrass her in front of her friends. They’re thoroughly charmed by Bow, as she expected they would be. Bow gives good parent. 

The drive is more fun than she expected it would be. Sure, she’s been on plenty of overnights for track, but they always took the bus, and there were chaperones nearby. This is just her and her best friends, stopping for weird snacks at gas stations and blasting the playlist that Glimmer made for the trip. 

Their room is at the same hotel the travel team is staying in. Hotel might be kind of a strong word. It’s definitely more of a motel situation, but it’s clean. It’s still pretty early, but they head over to the rec center where the bout is taking place. 

They buy tickets and order shitty food from the concession stand. When they look into the stands, they only see one person they recognize.

“Catra’s here!” Bow says, nudging Adora. 

It’s cute that he thinks she was not immediately aware of her presence. 

When they head over, they see that she is on the phone, speaking rapidfire Spanish. She sounds frustrated, but Adora only knows a handful of words in Spanish, so she’s really not sure.

Catra does a floppy gesture with her hand that Glimmer and Bow seem to think means that they should sit down, so they do. She gets to the end of the phone call, tells her grandma she loves her (the only words Adora actually understands in the conversation), and hangs up. She lets out a loud exhale before turning to Adora and her friends.

“Hey. I didn’t know anyone else was coming,” Catra says, and she takes a sip of her beer.

Which immediately starts some gears turning in Adora’s head. Is Catra nineteen? She just graduated high school. Shouldn’t she still be eighteen? Did someone else buy alcohol for her? 

Ultimately, it’s not any of Adora’s business, but she’s definitely a little confused.

“Are you staying at the hotel with the team?” Bow asks. 

“Yeah. With Scorpia, Perfuma, and Double Trouble,” Catra answers. “They used to split the captains by home team, but, you know, Mermista and Sea Hawk. Are you staying there, too?”

Adora still isn’t sure if Mermista and Sea Hawk are officially a couple or not, but there’s definitely something going on there, so she definitely understands why Perfuma wouldn’t want to stay with them. 

“Yeah, we are,” Glimmer answers. “Hey, Bow, didn’t you say you wanted a drink?”

Bow had absolutely not said that. 

“Oh, yeah,” Bow says, in a fully unconvincing tone. “I’m going to go get that drink I was talking about. With Glimmer.”

“And a drink for Glimmer?” Glimmer asks hopefully.

“Absolutely. In December, when you are old enough to drink,” Bow responds. 

There’s more conversation, but they are headed back toward the concession stand, so Adora can’t hear them anymore. There’s relative silence for a moment. The travel team is warming up on the track, and they can both hear a few familiar voices.

“So, uh,” Adora starts. “How was the drive?”

“Kinda awkward. DT got a ride with Mermista and Sea Hawk, so it was just me listening to Perfuma and Scorpia pretend they weren’t flirting with each other,” Catra says.

“Do you think they’re going to get together?” Adora asks. It feels a little dangerous to be talking about relationships with Catra, but she’s kind of invested in the whole Scorpia and Perfuma situation at this point.

“Yeah,” Catra answers simply. She’s watching the track, so she doesn’t say anything for a moment. “I think they’d be good for each other.”

“How long have you been friends with Scorpia?” 

Catra looks over to Adora with an almost analytical look on her face. 

“Do you want the long answer or the short answer?” Catra asks after a moment.

“I’ve got time,” Adora answers, and Catra chuckles just a little. She tries one of her mozzarella sticks, and they are truly terrible. How could fried cheese possibly go so wrong?

“We met my freshman year of high school. Her sophomore year,” Catra begins. (It doesn’t make sense, because Catra is about to start her freshman year of college, but Scorpia is going into her junior year, but Adora doesn’t interrupt her.) “We, uh, actually weren’t friends at first? We actually went out for, like, six months.”

“Oh,” Adora says. It probably doesn’t make sense to feel jealous of Scorpia in this  
moment, but she does. She tries to shove it down, because Catra literally just said she thinks Scorpia should go out with Perfuma. 

“We’re friends now,” Catra says, like she didn’t just dump a whole lot of info on Adora. “But we didn’t really talk for a while.”

“It’s good that you can be friends again,” Adora says, because she doesn’t know what else she can say. 

“It’s been a long time. We’re both different people,” Catra says. “Anyway, give me a mozzarella stick.”

“Are you sure? They are kind of gross,” Adora says, but she offers up the little paper boat of fried cheese and marinara sauce. 

“Then why are you on your third one?” Catra asks. She takes one and bites in, then immediately makes a face.

“I paid for them! I’m not going to just throw them away!” Adora defends. 

“These are the saddest, limp dick mozzarella sticks I’ve ever had in my life,” Catra says, but she takes another bite. 

Adora has never seen a limp dick (or any dick) before, but as she picks up a mozzarella stick it bends in a way that is suddenly even less appetizing than it was moments ago. 

That’s when Bow and Glimmer come back. 

“Wait, I’m sorry, are you drinking red wine?” Catra asks Bow.

“Are you teasing me about what I’m drinking with a PBR in your hand?” Bow asks with a winning smile.

“Fair point,” Catra says, and she takes a long, slow sip of her (apparently shitty) beer. 

There really aren’t that many people in the stands, but it’s time for the bout to start.

It’s really exciting. Adora hasn’t actually been to a bout since that first one with her mom months ago. Watching the team compete is even more interesting now that she knows pretty much all of the skaters. Adora’s starting to get to know everyone’s skating style a little better. Double Trouble and Perfuma are both incredibly agile jammers. Neither of them seems to get caught in the pack for long. (Double Trouble also gets more penalties than anyone else on the track, mostly for track cuts.) Netossa takes a different approach to jamming. When she needs to get through the pack, she plunges right in, never afraid to go one-on-one against the other team’s blockers. Scorpia and Huntara almost never jam, but they both serve as powerful blockers, clearing the path and holding Frost City’s jammer back. 

ERD sneaks in a narrow victory over Frost City, and they go nuts. They appear to be pretty much the only people in the audience who came to see ERD, but even the Frost City skaters don’t seem particularly upset to be bested. 

Then it’s time for the after-party, which was not something Adora knew existed. The after-party is at a bar within stumbling distance from the hotel and both teams show up. Adora’s never really been to a bar before, and it feels a little transgressive. The bar itself seems a little divey- the counter tops definitely look sticky. There’s a small dance floor tucked away in a corner, but mostly there are booths with mismatched light fixtures hanging over them and a large bar with stools covered in a maroon vinyl. 

Adora gets a Shirley Temple (with extra cherries) and sits down with Bow and Glimmer. Just after she sits down, Scorpia makes her way to the table. 

“You came! Thanks, guys!” she says, her bright orange mixed drink sloshing out of her plastic cup a little as she sits down. 

“Scorpia, you were phenomenal!” Glimmer cheers. 

Bow and Adora also praise her skating, and she blushes faintly. 

“Oh, gosh. It was a team effort. Our jammers were really what won us the game tonight,” Scorpia replies, just as Perfuma comes over to their table drinking a mango White Claw. 

“No way!” Perfuma says. “We never would have won without your incredible blocking.”

There’s some discussion of strategy that Adora mostly understands until Catra comes over with another beer. She’s about to squeeze in next to Bow and Glimmer, when Perfuma lets out a shriek of excitement.

“I love this song! Come dance with me?” she asks Scorpia. Scorpia immediately springs up to follow her to the dance floor. “Catra, you can come sit over here, next to Adora.” 

Then she _winks_ at Adora. 

Adora's not sure when her crush on Catra became public knowledge but apparently it's obvious. She wonders if Catra knows. She glances over toward her, but Catra is just smiling fondly at Scorpia and Perfuma as they dance. 

"Aw, they're cute together," Bow says. 

Scorpia spins Perfuma, and Perfuma giggles in her arms once she gets to a stop. Their eyes meet, and then-

"Oh. Okay. Um, that escalated quickly," Bow says, turning away as one chaste kiss pretty quickly turns into a makeout session on the dance floor.

"How are you feeling about your sleeping arrangement?" Glimmer teases Catra.

"Eh, I'm sure they'll behave. Double Trouble will be there, too," Catra says flippantly, turning her attention back to the table.

"Are you- are you sure Double Trouble is staying in your room?" Bow asks, looking pointedly across the bar. 

Double Trouble is leaning up against the bar, talking to Mermista and Sea Hawk. One of their hands is stroking through Mermista's hair, very close to her face. Sea Hawk's arm is wrapped loosely around Mermista's waist, and even from across the bar, it's easy to see that he's intrigued. Double Trouble reaches out and pulls Sea Hawk toward them by a belt loop.

The Best Friend Squad immediately turns their attention back to Catra.

"We've got space in our room, if you want," Bow offers.

A siren goes off in Adora's brain. There hasn't been any discussion about who is sharing a bed at this point. She knows her friends, though, and if Catra wins up in their room, there is absolutely no way Adora won't wind up sharing a bed with her. 

(Adora's brain starts spiraling a little. Does she get really sweaty when she sleeps? Does she snore? What if her period starts in the middle of the night and-)

"That might be a good idea," Catra says slowly, as Double Trouble, Mermista, and Sea Hawk make a less than subtle exit. 

"I have to go to the bathroom," Glimmer announces. She's looking directly at Adora when she says it.

"Oh, uh, me too," Adora says, and follows Glimmer away from the table.

"You don't have to share a bed with her if you don't feel comfortable," Glimmer says as soon as they're out of ear shot. "I'm okay to share with anyone."

"Okay," Adora says, still processing that she is going to sleep in the same room as Catra and see her in her pajamas. (She's probably going to be so cute when she first wakes up. Fuck.)

"But, like…" Glimmer starts, and it might be a trick of the dim light in the bar, but it seems like she's blushing. "If you did want to share a bed with her, that would be fine."

"Okay," Adora repeats. They are in the bathroom now, but neither of them makes a move to do anything but talk by the sinks. 

"It would be totally fine," Glimmer says, and she is absolutely, definitely blushing. 

Why would Glimmer be blushing about Adora sharing a bed with Catra? She has to know Adora isn't going to do anything. Definitely not with Glimmer and Bow in the room. Then Adora realizes- if she shares a bed with Catra, Glimmer would share a bed with Bow.

Oh.

"That would put you and Bow together," Adora observes.

"Oh, yeah, I guess it would," Glimmer replies, and she awkwardly laughs a little.

"And you'd be okay with that," Adora prods. 

"I wouldn't mind it," Glimmer replies, making sudden eye contact with Adora. It's almost like she's daring her to say something. 

Turnabout is fair play. She could totally tease Glimmer about this. But if Bow and Glimmer have known each other since they were kids and haven't worked out their feelings yet, Adora isn't going to push things.

"Then I guess I'll sleep with Catra," Adora says flippantly. "Wait, I mean-"

"Oh, I know what you meant," Glimmer says, nudging Adora's side. 

"So, I'm ready to go back to the table, unless you've actually got to pee," Adora says, still blushing a little from her slip up.

"Hey," Glimmer says, as they start walking back to the table. "Thanks."

She's not sure if she's being thanked for letting Glimmer share a bed with Bow or for not calling her out on her crush, but either way, she'll take it.


	9. There Was Only 😳 One Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who put Catra in charge of the music?

As soon as they get back to the motel, Catra pops into the room she was supposed to share with Scorpia, Perfuma, and Double Trouble to grab her bag. The room is only two doors down, but as soon as she shuts the door, Bow turns to Adora.

“Are you sure this is okay?” he whispers. Bow is not the world’s best whisperer.

Adora thinks she should probably feel embarrassed that her friends think she’s such a disaster that she can’t handle sleeping in the same bed as a pretty girl. She plans to live her life in a way that involves at least an occasional pretty girl in her bed. 

Maybe this is good practice. Exposure therapy, or something like that. 

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Adora says quietly. 

“One of us can share a bed with her,” Bow offers. “It doesn’t have to be you."

“She said she's fine with it,” Glimmer replies quickly. 

“I just want to make sure Adora is comfortable!” Bow hisses, but there’s no chance to respond, because Catra knocks on the door and then lets herself in. 

“So who goes where?” Catra asks. She’s got her backpack over one shoulder and she still hasn’t really moved out of the doorway. 

"Bow and I are taking this bed!" Glimmer says cheerfully, sitting on the bed furthest from the door with so much force she bounces a little.

Bow turns sharply to face her, but Adora can see he's blushing. 

Adora starts picturing what a wedding between her best friends would look like. She can already tell George and Lance would love it if Glimmer became their daughter-in-law. Would Bow wear a crop top to his own wedding? Probably, Adora decides. 

Catra sits down on the bed she will be sharing with Adora, and Adora's thoughts make a sharp turn back to pretty girl in her bed territory. 

“I guess I should text Scorpia,” Catra says. She pulls out her phone and starts typing. Adora already knew she was pretty far gone, but Catra looks so incredibly cute while she focuses on typing out the message. 

“So do we think they’ll wind up together after this?” Bow asks. He’s rummaging through his suitcase, although Adora can't really imagine there's much in there. Then he pulls out a bag of chips and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. 

"Scorpia and Perfuma? Yeah, I think so. I know that's what Scorpia wants," Catra says. She looks at the bag of cookies, and then to Adora, the only one still standing. Adora pretends to look annoyed, but she is absolutely endeared by Catra's sad little grabby hand motion. Adora brings her a cookie, but then Glimmer makes a whining noise, so she brings her one, too. 

"You and Scorpia have been friends for a while, right?" Glimmer asks between bites.

"Yep," Catra says, but she doesn't elaborate. 

She had elaborated when Adora had asked.

Interesting. 

"I'm gonna take a shower," Adora says. She grabs her pajamas out of her bag so she can change in the bathroom.

She can hear her friends talking and laughing through the thin wall separating the bathroom from the rest of the room. She can't quite make out what they're saying over the sound of the water, but it's nice to hear that Catra is having a good time with Bow and Glimmer. 

She wonders if Catra is going to drive back with them. She'd ridden up with Scorpia and Perfuma, but if they are working out the very beginning of a new relationship, they might want some privacy to talk things out or hold hands or whatever. 

It would probably be a bad idea to take too long in the shower. She doesn't want to waste water, or, like, have someone think she's masturbating. 

(She's not going to, but she can't help but think it would take the edge off. There's even a detachable shower head, so she knows it would be quick. It's fine, she'll just be super tense all night.)

Once she's got her shorts and tank top on, she shakes out her arms, takes a deep breath and opens the door. 

The TV is on, playing reruns of some old sitcom. Catra's on the bed, leaned up against the headboard. Glimmer is laying on her stomach on the other bed, arms folded in front of her. Poor Bow is sitting on the one chair in the hotel room, back very straight in a way that suggests tension. He hops up to brush his teeth as soon as Adora gets out of the shower.

For all the thought her friends have put into her crush, it's taken Adora quite a while to notice what was going on between Bow and Glimmer. She wonders how long they've been hiding this from each other. 

"Adora, can I just say, as your platonic friend- your shoulders look incredible," Glimmer says appreciatively. 

"What?" Adora says demurely, but also...

She knows. She's been working very hard on her upper body strength recently, and she is very aware that the racer back tank she's wearing shows off her progress pretty impressively.

When she was packing, she hadn't really thought about her pajamas. It was just supposed to be Glimmer and Bow, so she didn't care that her shorts were pretty short and the tank top showed off a little more skin than usual. She's not exactly mad that Catra is seeing her like this. 

"I mean, I've seen your biceps before," Glimmer continues. "But your back is just- it's really nice."

"What's really nice?" Bow asks as he re-enters. He's also changed into his pajamas: soft flannel pajama bottoms and a super cropped tank. 

Glimmer turns to look at him and then immediately turns back to the TV. Her red ears are the only thing that give her away. 

"Adora's back," Catra replies with a smug little grin. Her eyes have stayed on Adora's shoulders for the entirety of this conversation.

She's not proud of herself, but Adora scratches the back of her head in a way that makes her muscles just a little more visible. She sits on the very edge of the bed, which puts her far enough away from Catra to be comfortable, but still gives Catra a full view of her back.

"Damn," Bow says. "How much do you bench?" 

"Like, one-forty?" Adora replies. She's still working on increasing that number, but she was really proud when she passed her own body weight.

"Catra, how much do you weigh?" Glimmer asks with a mischievous glint in her eyes 

"Nope, nope, nope," Adora says immediately, and the other three all laugh at her. 

(Catra is tiny. She's several inches shorter than Adora, and she's just really compact. Adora could absolutely lift her. She's just not sure she would survive it.)

Glimmer heads in to brush her teeth next, and the conversation turns to weight lifting. 

"How much do you think Huntara can bench?" Adora asks 

"I mean, Scorpia just broke 200 and I bet Huntara lifts more than her," Bow says.

"Huntara could crush a skull between her thighs," Glimmer says, as she comes back into the room in a pajama set that matches her pink and purple hair. 

"What a way to go," Adora says dreamily.

It takes a moment of everyone staring at her (and Glimmer giggling) for her to realize she said that out loud. 

"Wooooow," Catra drawls. "Huntara, really? That's your type?"

"It's not like I'm into her," Adora defends, a blush spreading across her cheeks. This is steering into dangerous territory.

"Oh, so you're objectifying her?" Catra replies, gathering her things for the shower. 

"I don't even think you have a type," Glimmer interrupts. 

"I mean, women, but other than that, not really," Adora replies. 

Catra raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn't say anything. The bathroom door shut and as soon as the water turns on, Bow whispers, "You just came out to Catra!"

"What?" Adora replies, in her best whisper. It is still really loud. She is also not a great whisperer. "I mean, I guess. It's not really a secret anymore, unless my grandparents on my mom's side ask."

"Is it condescending that I'm proud of you?" Glimmer asks, which makes Adora laugh. 

"Nah," Adora replies. She's the only one who hasn't brushed her teeth yet, so she takes two more cookies. 

She tries to decide if it's weird if she gets under the blankets. Glimmer and Bow are sitting next to each other, backs against the headboard, their legs under a blanket Bow brought from home. (He had insisted that hotel sheets are gross.) It reminds her of the grandparents in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

She settles for sitting on top of the blankets, leg crossed, back against her pillow. 

When Catra gets back, she knows she is well and truly fucked. 

Adora has underwear that cover more than Catra's shorts. Her camisole is short enough to expose most of her midriff. When she sweeps her curls into a loose bun on top of her head, even more skin is visible. Not only that, but, uh.

She's not wearing a bra.

Which is normal. Adora isn't either- who wears a bra to sleep? 

But it's gotten a little colder.

And it kind of looks like one of Catra's nipples is pierced?

(The right one. It maybe doesn't matter which one, but it's the right one, and now she has to know that forever. She can't foresee ever forgetting that information.)

She forces her eyes up to Catra's, but that's also a bad, bad choice, because, as usual, Catra is smirking. 

Adora excuses herself to brush her teeth. She takes a glance into the shower, at the detachable shower head and regrets her choices. 

Too late now.

She brushes her teeth and heads back into the room. Catra is under the blankets, lying on her side. 

She is still just stunningly gorgeous. It really doesn't seem fair. Adora can see the outline of her hips under the blankets, and the sharp dip down to her waist. 

"Should I turn the light off?" Adora asks. 

No one complains, so she flips the switch. She makes her way back over to the bed, and slips under the blankets.

"Hey," Catra says with a yawn. It's dark enough that Adora shouldn't be able to tell, but Catra is very cute. She's blinking more than usual. 

Maybe if she plays her cards right Adora will get to see more sleepy bedtime Catra in her future. 

"Hi," Adora replies quietly. 

"Good night, everyone!" Bow says loudly.

"Good night!" The other three chorus, pretty much at the same time.

Adora is lying on her back, but she's still facing Catra. 

Catra shuts her eyes and falls asleep pretty much immediately.

It takes Adora a little longer. 

She tries to convince herself that it's weird to stare at Catra, but she looks so soft in the moonlight, so Adora lets herself look for just a minute.

*****

Adora wakes suddenly, startled and confused. 

It's still dark in the room, and she's still not sure why she's awake.

"Stop kicking me," Catra hisses. 

And, oh.

Yeah. 

That's absolutely a thing she does.

Most of her friends in elementary school stopped letting her sleep in the same bed as them during sleepovers, and the other track girls complained about it during away meets.

"Sorry!" Adora whispers. 

"Don't be sorry, just stop kicking me!" Catra replies. She looks a little frustrated, but it mostly seems like she's teasing. 

"It's not like I did it on purpose!" Adora says.

"So you just have bouts of homophobia in your sleep?" Catra teases.

"If it was homophobia, I would have kicked myself, too," Adora reasons.

"Lift up your arm," Catra instructs.

Adora's not sure why Catra wants her to do that, but she's too tired to argue, so she lifts her arm.

Catra rolls so her back is pressed tight against Adora's chest. She pulls Adora's arm around her waist, then keeps a soft grip around Adora's wrist.

"Now stay put," Catra says. 

She is very warm, and she smells fresh and sweet, like oranges and sunshine. Every time she takes a breath, Adora feels it against her chest. 

Normally, she would freak out about this, but she's still half asleep, so she just curls into Catra a little more. 

It's probably the most pleasant way she's ever fallen asleep.

*****

When Adora wakes up again, there's light coming through the window. She seems to have rolled away from Catra during the night, but she didn't get woken up again, so she probably stopped kicking.

She looks around to see if anyone else is awake, but she appears to be the first one up. That's when she notices how Bow and Glimmer are sleeping.

Glimmer is curled up against Bow's side, head resting on his chest. Bow has an arm wrapped around her.

She considers taking a picture with her phone, because it is the cutest thing she has ever seen. 

Instead, she gets dressed and ready for the day. 

By the time she's finished brushing her teeth, everyone else is awake. Glimmer is now standing near the foot of the bed, so apparently their moment is over.

Catra's still in bed, stretching her arms and generally being Very Attractive in her cropped cami. 

It takes a while for everyone else to get ready, but Adora distracts herself with her phone until it's time to head out. 

As suspected, Catra gets a text from Scorpia, asking if she can get a ride home from someone else. Bow is happy to oblige. 

So happy, he even offers to let her play her own music.

"Whatever I want?" Catra asks with a mischievous grin. She's in the back seat with Adora, because of course she is.

"When you ask that, it makes me think I probably shouldn't pass you the cord," Bow says.

"And yet you will," Catra replies.

And he does.

Adora's a little tense, because Catra has never passed up a chance to tease her. 

But the first song starts, and it's Lizzo. Everyone loves Lizzo. There's even a little bit of half-hearted singing along. 

The next song is a super upbeat eighties song.

By the fourth or fifth song, everyone is singing along and having a great time.

Adora should have known not to get too comfortable. 

Catra can't be trusted.

Glimmer is the first one who figures out what's happening. She starts giggling within a second of the song starting. It takes Bow a little longer, but he snorts out a laugh.

It takes Adora a little longer.

Catra's expression remains as innocent as she is capable of making it. 

Then Adora starts listening to the lyrics, and oh.

Okay.

So, the thing is, Adora has never heard this song before. 

She's heard about it. 

But she's never sat down and listened to it. 

Maybe she would have been a little more prepared if she'd had a chance to process the lyrics at home.

But, nope.

That is not how her life turned out.

Instead, she's in a car with her two best friends laughing like hyenas and her crush pretending she didn't put WAP on this playlist just to fuck with Adora.

Adora is once again fairly certain she will spontaneously combust from blushing when Glimmer turns around in her seat, makes direct eye contact with Catra, and recites the next verse in perfect rhythm with the song until Catra cackles. 

Bow pulls into a gas station and laughs harder than Adora thinks she's ever seen him laugh before. 

The ridiculousness of the situation finally gets to her, and Adora laughs as well. The overtly sexual song, Glimmer knowing every word, Catra's innocent expression. It's all too much.

(Adora's not really sure what macaroni has to do with the rest of the song, but she's pretty sure if she googled it, she'd wind up finding porn, so she decides to make peace with not knowing.)

They get to the end of the song, and Bow regains his composure well enough to drive again. He decides to fill the tank while they're already stopped. 

Adora insists on paying for gas this time, and Glimmer wanders into the store to look for coffee. 

"Aw, it looks like Scorpia and Perfuma are official," Bow says as soon as they all get back to the car. "Check out Scorpia's Instagram."

Glimmer and Catra pull out their phones to check, but Adora is really lazy about following people, so she hasn't bothered to find Scorpia yet. 

"Let me see," she says, once Glimmer makes a little noise of approval.

"Here," Catra says, and she turns her phone toward Adora. 

It's a really cute photo. Perfuma is smiling softly at the camera, and Scorpia is beaming, but her eyes are on Perfuma. The caption says "my gorgeous girlfriend".

"Well, that was fast," Glimmer says. 

Adora's not really sure it was fast. Scorpia has clearly been into Perfuma for months. It's really nice to see both of them looking so happy. 

And, hey, if it can work out for Scorpia and Perfuma, maybe it's about time for Adora to take her shot. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much every chapter, I wonder if I should up the rating, but, like, we're still fine, right?


	10. Everything Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where shit starts going down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gentle warning: someone gets injured in this chapter. They get a concussion which is not described in detail. This is a derby fic and there will be more injuries in coming chapters, including broken bones.

A few things happen in quick succession.

First, Adora passes the minimum skills test. She takes the test with Glimmer, and they both push each other through. Adora still struggles a little with some of the more demanding footwork, so Glimmer psychs her up before lateral cuts. Glimmer’s still working on her endurance, so Adora paces her for the last few laps of the 27/5. When they finish testing, Glimmer literally screams with joy. 

It means they’ll be drafted for one of the home teams in a few weeks. Adora hopes she winds up on Bright Moon- Glimmer’s mom seems cool, but the bench coach for the Horde is super creepy. Adora has only met her a few times, but once she told Adora she’d seen “great progress from her” and then she’d _run her hand over Adora’s cheek_. 

Like, what the fuck, stop touching people’s faces, lady. 

So she passes the minimum skills test, and she feels like she’s on top of the world.

Then during the next practice, Kyle gets a concussion.

Kyle is still kind of a shitty skater. He’s way easier to knock over than a ref should be, so when Scorpia gets knocked out of bounds during a practice drill and slides into Kyle, he hits the ground hard.

Everyone stops. Most of the experienced skaters take a knee. 

Mermista skates up to him immediately. 

“Let’s all clear the track,” Perfuma says decisively after a few moments. She ushers the group over to the area where they get ready. 

Adora looks around to the rest of the skaters to see how everyone else is doing. She’s not close with Kyle by any stretch of the imagination, but she feels kind of shaken. It’s a big reminder that this is a dangerous sport. 

Bow looks kind of upset- he’s definitely spent more time with Kyle. Glimmer squeezes his arm, and he leans into her shoulder. A few of the other skaters look mildly disturbed, but Scorpia seems pretty devastated. Perfuma whispers to her and rubs her arm.

“I should have seen him,” Scorpia says, voice catching on tears. 

Adora can’t hear Perfuma’s response, but she hopes that she’s being assured that this is not her fault. It's really not. Not that it's Kyle's fault either; it's just a really shitty thing that happened. 

It feels like a long time passes before Sea Hawk comes over to grab Kyle’s shoes. Sea Hawk quietly tells the group that he and Mermista are driving Kyle to the emergency room for what appears to be a concussion. 

Kyle looks a little gray as he walks out to Sea Hawk’s monstrosity of a car. 

(The man drives a Kia Soul covered in a graphic wrap printed with the logo of the radio station he works for. Adora doesn’t know why it took her so long to recognize his voice- her mom listens to Sea Hawk’s radio show regularly.) 

“We’re going to end practice a little early tonight,” Perfuma says as soon as Kyle is gone. “I’d appreciate it if a few people could stay behind to help clean up. Take care of yourselves tonight, okay?”

Adora volunteers to stay and clean up with Bow and Glimmer. She’s still full of nervous energy, and she’s pretty sure that pushing around a giant broom will help with that. 

Scorpia tries pretty hard to help with sweeping, but she's still kind of a mess, so she just sort of spreads the dirt around. 

When it's time to go, Adora watches Scorpia and Perfuma leave in the same car. Or, really, Adora watches as Perfuma pulls Scorpia into a firm hug that ends with Perfuma taking Scorpia's keys. They've only been dating for a few weeks, but it already seems like they're always together. It's sweet- they are both clearly in pretty deep.

"Do you want to hang out for a little longer?" Adora asks. Bow hasn't said much of anything, but she can tell from the wrinkle in his forehead that he's still thinking about Kyle.

"Duck pond?" Bow replies with a grateful little half smile. 

"Wait, what?" Glimmer replies. "What duck pond?"

"There's one a few blocks away. Adora and I went there after tryouts," Bow answers.

Glimmer pouts just a little, which doesn't seem fair. Surely it's okay if Bow and Adora hang out one-on-one, particularly when Glimmer is busy. Glimmer and Bow hang out without Adora, and she genuinely doesn't care. She realizes she hasn't really hung out with just Glimmer, and she decides to change that soon. She doesn't want her friend to feel left out. 

*****

Then, just a week later, she moves into the dorms. 

It's surprisingly well organized. As soon as they pull up, there's someone with a clipboard directing them to another person with yet another clipboard. They even have student athletes moving boxes into the dorms, so she mostly just has to unpack. 

She gets her keys and lets her parents into the room. Her roommate seems to have already moved in, but she's not there. They'd texted some over the summer- her name is Sydney. Her family lives a few hours away, so they hadn't had a chance to meet up, but she seems nice enough. Her side of the room is mostly decorated in a combination of purple and teal, and she has a poster of Arianna Grande. 

Adora's parents help her unpack. They head back down to the car to grab the last few things, until Adora is stopped by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Adora," Catra says, a box resting against her hip. 

"Oh! Hi, Catra," Adora replies. "Are you- is this your dorm?"

"Nope," Catra says with a raised eyebrow. "I'm breaking and entering."

Adora is suddenly very aware of her parents behind her. She knows she should introduce them, but she also wants to make this as quick as possible. 

"Catrina?" a voice calls from inside the room. 

" _Catrina?"_ Adora mouths with a little smile. She'd always just assumed Catra was her given name. 

" _Shut up,"_ Catra mouths back. She says something in Spanish that Adora doesn't understand, but it ends with _abuelito_ , which is a word Adora actually knows.

The man who comes out doesn't look much older than Adora's parents. He might not be- her parents are in their early fifties. She's even had a classmate with grandparents younger than her parents.

"This is Adora," Catra says. "From derby."

There's a weird moment where Adora's parents introduce themselves (they literally shake Catra's hand and Adora wants to sink into the floor), and Catra's grandpa introduces himself, and then her grandma comes up the stairs and they do the whole thing over again. Catra looks just as embarrassed as Adora is, so at least that's worth something. 

They say their goodbyes, and then as soon as she gets to the stairwell, her dad turns to her.

"So that's the girl," he says simply.

And, ugh.

What is her life?

She didn't expect to be busted so quickly, but in her defense, Catra's extreme cuteness causes a chemical reaction in her face that leads to blushing.

It's just basic science. 

"What?" she asks in a very unconvincing tone.

"Oh!" her mom says. "Oh, she's _cute!_ Her eyes are just _striking._ " 

If she was biologically related to her mom at all, she would suspect that maybe this was genetic. Her dad seems unaffected, though. 

" _Stop!"_ Adora whines. She's aware that she sounds like a toddler, and not a young adult who is about to live independently. 

They get her moved into her room. Her roommate still hasn't come back yet. She got a folder with information about what's happening tonight, and apparently parents are welcome to come down to the dining hall.

They're heading down the hall when they see Catra's family again. 

"Oh, hi!" Adora's mom says in a chipper tone.

Absolutely nothing good can come of this. Adora is sure of it. 

"We were just heading down to the dining hall for dinner. Would you like to join us?" her mom asks.

Holy fucking shit.

Her mom is a new level of brazen. 

Catra shoots Adora a mildly panicked look, as though Adora has any control over this situation. 

"That sounds lovely," Catra's grandma replies. She speaks with just a hint of an accent, whereas Catra's grandpa has a pretty thick accent. Adora has creeped on enough of Catra's instagram posts to figure out that her family is Mexican. She'd posted dozens of photos of a trip to Mexico a few years ago, with aunts and uncles lots of little cousins and a woman Adora strongly suspected was her mom, although she hasn't been in any of her posts in years. 

Catra hisses something in Spanish at her grandma, but she just waves her at Catra, like she's shooing away a fly. 

It's nice to know that they are both at the mercy of their families.

So that's how Adora winds up sitting in the dining hall with Catra and her grandparents. Her mom insists that 'the girls' sit next to each other, so she sits between Catra and her dad. 

"So, Catrina," her mother begins, and one of Catra's eyes twitches. "What's your major?"

"Probably business," Catra says. "Maybe marketing."

It's new information to Adora, but she's realizing she doesn't know a lot about Catra. She's not sure if the woman in the photos is actually her mom, and if she is, why Catra is living with her grandparents. She's also old enough to drink, even though she just graduated high school a few months ago. Neither of these topics are things she can just bring up casually. ' _Hey, did your mom disown you when you came out? Or is she dead? Did you fail a grade? Is that why you and Scorpia broke up?'_

She's pretty sure she needs to get to a higher level of friendship before she unlocks that kind of tragic backstory. 

"I got my bachelor's in business management," her dad says, and Adora tries to focus back on the conversation, but she knows it's about to get super boring. 

Her dad has explained his job to her at least a dozen times, but Adora still has no idea what he does. He has to wear a tie to work. 

(Catra would look good in a tie.)

When Catra asks what he does and he starts explaining his job, Adora just sort of drifts out of paying attention. She glances at Catra's grandparents, both paying rapt attention to her dad. They seem nice. Adora could probably stand to have them as in-laws. 

Catra kicks her ankle just a little, and she snaps back to attention. 

"Absolutely," she says, and when her parents look at her funny and Catra smirks, she knows she hasn't said the right thing.

But dinner goes fine, mostly. She learns that Catra's grandparents want her to take over running the skating rink when they retire, which is interesting. Her parents don't embarrass her too much. 

Then her parents come up to her room to say goodbye, and she bawls.

It's ridiculous.

They live half an hour away. She could literally eat lunch with them every day. 

But she's not going to see them every day anymore. She's not going to hear her dad nag her mom about drinking too much coffee at breakfast. Her mom's not going to ask her questions through the bathroom door while she's taking a shower. 

And it just kind of feels like her childhood is ending. 

She hugs them tight, and they all cry, and it's just kind of a mess. 

"Make sure you call," her mom says. "Don't drink and drive. Use protection."

Like she's trying to reinforce eighteen years of parenting in eighteen seconds. 

(Although it does make Adora realize she had no idea what protection looks like for lady-on-lady sex. Maybe she should Google that.)

By the time her roommate shows up, she's pretty sure she doesn't look like she was just crying. 

*****

Her first week of classes are exciting and scary. She meets up with Glimmer and Bow and even Scorpia a few times. She only sees Catra at derby and during a meeting for her floor. 

That weekend is the draft party. The league rents out a party room from a local restaurant. Each of the new recruits gets a cupcake. The color of the filling will let them know which home team they have been drafted to: red for the Horde, purple for Bright Moon. 

Adora is relieved when she sees purple, and even more excited when Glimmer holds her cupcake up to her to show her the same color. 

She looks around the table of new recruits and sees a pretty even mix. Catra's cupcake has red inside. It's kind of a bummer that Catra is on the other team, but the league has a lot of practices together and Catra literally lives four doors down from her. She'll see her around. 

The two teams are taken to separate parties, and apparently the refs are already at their own thing. There's alcohol at the party, but they are also told that if anyone underage is caught drinking at the party, they will be kicked off the team. 

Even without alcohol, she still feels a little drunk. Perfuma hugs her four times. It's just a really great night. She feels like she's part of something special, and she can't wait until her uniform comes in. It's going to be so much fun skating with her team, particularly with Glimmer by her side.

*****

Two weeks later, the next big change comes.

Bow gets a boyfriend.

His name is Michael, and Adora likes him quite a bit. He's a theater major, which isn't terribly surprising, because he's super animated. Bow and Michael have a chemistry class together, and Michael jokes that they also have chemistry. It's kind of cheesy, but it makes Adora laugh. He makes people laugh a lot. He's got kind of a quirky sense of style, and he's a great listener. All around, Michael is just a super nice guy. 

And Glimmer _hates_ him. 

Whenever he talks, she pulls out her phone to check her texts. If she knows in advance he's coming to lunch, she makes a flimsy excuse. 

It comes to a head one day when Glimmer and Adora are hanging out in Adora's dorm.

"It would be nice if Bow could spend time with us too, but I guess he's too busy with _Michael_ to spend time with his friends," Glimmer complains.

Which doesn't seem fair at all. The three of them had watched a movie together the night before, without Michael. Glimmer had made a few snippy comments, but neither Adora not Bow had called her out. But now…

"I think you're being too hard on Michael," Adora says gently. He and Bow have only been dating for a few weeks, and Adora doesn't know how much longer she can put up with the way Glimmer talks about him. 

"What are you trying to say?" Glimmer asks 

"It kind of seems like you're jealous," Adora replies. She's sitting on her bed, Glimmer in her desk chair. She smooths out the comforter next to her, to give her hands something to do. 

"Jealous?!" Glimmer cries. "You think I'm _jealous?"_

Adora does think she's jealous, based on the fact that she is _absolutely 100% obviously jealous._

"Glimmer, if you have feelings for Bow-" Adora starts, but it was clearly the wrong thing to say. 

"I'm sorry, are you about to offer me relationship advice?" Glimmer snaps, and that hurts. "You haven't even kissed anyone, what advice could you possibly have?"

Adora opens her mouth to reply, but she is too shocked to say anything for a moment. 

"I'm just trying to help!" she finally says.

"Well, you're not! You obviously have no idea what you're talking about," Glimmer says. "I'm going to class, now. Bye, Adora."

Adora knows Glimmer doesn't have another class for hours, and when she leaves, she slams the door behind her. 

When she meets Bow and Michael for their regular Wednesday lunch the next day, Glimmer doesn't come. Adora sends her a text, but she doesn't respond. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Way harsh, Glimmer. 
> 
> Also, I have not decided what Bow's derby name is! Let me know if you have a suggestion! I came up with one for another character that I hope y'all will enjoy even a quarter as much as I do. 
> 
> Next chapter: Adora gets to skate in a scrimmage, and Catra lives the rebellious life of a college student.


	11. Goldfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora gets to skate in a scrimmage, and Catra lives the rebellious life of a college student. Glimmer and Bow could maybe stand to get their shit together.

Just a few weeks after the draft party is the first scrimmage. It will be the first time Adora participates in a whole game, and she's freaking out a little. 

They are divided up into a black team and a white team. It's fun to be on the same team as some of the Horde skaters. 

It's also the first time she gets to meet a lot of the non-skating officials. The head NSO, Entrapta has some of the most chaotic energy Adora has ever experienced. She runs the scoreboard, which she apparently built herself. Adora only understands about sixty percent of anything she says, and she's just a little bit in awe. 

She also has an awkward moment with one of the scorekeepers. When Adora bumps into him and apologizes profusely, he signs something back. Her knowledge of sign language is absolute garbage, so she just mouths sorry like four more times. He pats her shoulder and keeps walking past her. 

(She is told later that his derby name is TriceraTop, and she's embarrassed to admit that Bow has to explain the pun to her.)

Kyle apparently joined the NSOs. Adora hadn't seen him since his concussion, but he seems happy and healthy. He keeps signing back and forth to TriceraTop, and Adora's just about certain they're flirting. She had no idea roller derby teams were this incestuous, but at least no one can get mad at her if she manages to get her shit together with Catra. 

Adora mostly winds up blocking, and it's physical, sweaty work. She loves it. She feels incredibly powerful when the jammer can't get past a wall she's part of. 

She gets two penalties: a low block when she accidentally trips Perfuma and a track cut when she steps back onto the track in the wrong place after Lonnie knocks her out of bounds.

Her team is winning by forty points near the end of the second period, so Scorpia asks her if she wants to jam. It's such a nerve-wracking prospect, but she absolutely wants to give it a shot. 

The white team puts Perfuma up against her, which is terrifying. Perfuma is an excellent jammer- she's fast and agile in a way Adora still isn't.

But Adora's team has Huntara and Scorpia, so she knows Perfuma is up against a big challenge. 

When the whistle blows, she just focuses on trying to get through the pack. This jam, the blockers for the other team are Glimmer, Mermista, Catra, and Spinerella. She runs into Spinerella and Glimmer first, while Catra and Mermista are trying to free up a path for Perfuma. 

Glimmer still isn't really talking to her, but she decides not to think about it. She's just going to focus on getting through the pack. 

They are both really solid skaters, and she's having no luck trying to push through them. She tries stepping to the side, but they are always ahead of her. 

Then she remembers something Catra did at practice a few months ago. She pushes against Spinerella's side, and then rolls off of her, and just barely manages to step around Glimmer. 

Catra and Mermista are caught up trying to help Perfuma get around Huntara. Mermista yells something, but Adora's brain is too overloaded to try and process it. Catra steps out in front of Adora, and suddenly they're one-on-one.

"Hey, She-Ra," she drawls, as Adora is pushing against her, chest to chest.

"Hey, Catra," Adora says, even though her derby name is Wildcat. She absolutely can't bring herself to say it. It feels too intimate, like a pet name. 

It's been a few months since they were last face to face like this, and Adora spent a lot of time at the gym this summer. She pushes hard against Catra, and they both move forward together. 

Adora tries to step around her, but Catra is quick. She takes a step to the other side, and pushes her upper shoulder  _ hard _ against Catra, and she breaks through. There's no one in front of her, so she keeps skating as fast as she can.

She hears a whistle, twice in quick succession. She looks over to see Bow pointing at her, and holy shit.

She's the lead jammer.

She trips over her own skates, but she catches herself. She skates around the track, heart pounding, and she feels like she's flying. There is yelling from the sidelines, but she doesn't have the capacity to understand any of it. 

As she reapproaches the pack, Perfuma is just breaking through for the first time. She tries to remember some semblance of strategy. Now that she's completed her initial lap, she gets a point for each opposing blocker she passes. Perfuma is also on her second lap, so she will also get points for each of Adora's blockers she passes. 

So she just has to get her hips past as many blockers as she can before Perfuma has a chance to pass anyone. 

At the very back of the pack is a wall of three: Catra, Mermista, and Spinerella. 

Huntara skates over and knocks Mermista out of bounds. Catra and Spinerella scramble to reform their wall, but Adora gets past them. She's almost to Glimmer when she hears Huntara.

"She-Ra! Call it!"

Adora taps her hips frantically until Bow whistles four sharp bursts, three times in a row.

He is beaming as he holds up three fingers. 

Huntara grabs her around the waist and swings her into a hug. Scorpia skates into them, and Adora is suddenly squished between two incredibly muscular women.

(She's had dreams that started like this.)

She knows she is blushing ferociously, but also.

She just did that. 

They skate off the track, and Adora feels like she is on top of the world.

Perfuma smiles at her and claps her on the shoulder. 

Angella is bench coaching for the black team, and she gives Adora the warmest smile.

She notices Shadow Weaver talking to Catra, and neither of them seem pleased. Hopefully, Catra isn't being blamed for letting Adora through; she put up a really good fight, and Adora also got past two more experienced skaters. 

The game continues. There are almost five minutes left on the clock, which turns into three jams. She blocks during the last one.

Her team wins.

They wind up with 87 points, of which Adora is only responsible for three, but she's the only rookie who got lead jammer all night, so she gets a lot of back pats and congratulations. 

She tries to make eye contact with Glimmer, but Glimmer won't catch her eye. 

"Nice job," Catra tells her as she skates over to take off her gear.

She doesn't have time to respond, because Bow grabs her in a hug.

The whole evening is such a rush. She loves this sport. She loves this team. 

And for the first time, she feels like she's getting  _ good _ at this.

There's still an ache in her chest. She wants things to be right with Glimmer, but she's also not interested in apologizing. She was just trying to help, and Glimmer took it the wrong way. Adora forces herself not to think about it.

*****

A few days later, she's walking back to her room from the showers, and she sees a cat in the hallway. 

A big, fat black cat with a fluffy coat. The cat is rolled over on it's back, and it mews as Adora walks closer.

"Um, hi," she says. She looks around, but she's the only one in the hall.

Her parents have never wanted pets, and she hasn't tried to push it. She really hasn't spent a lot of time around animals, except for the horses at summer camp.

(She might have been a little obsessed with horses when she was younger.)

(She might still be a little obsessed with horses.)

Suddenly, a door opens to her right and Catra bursts out of her room.

"Melog!" she whispers, and for a minute, Adora thinks she's speaking Spanish.

But she's looking at the cat.

"Oh. Hey, Adora. I see you found my goldfish," Catra says.

And Adora is even more confused.

"Your… goldfish?" Adora replies.

"The dorms only allow pet fish," Catra explains in a serious tone, picking up the cat. "So I brought my goldfish, Melog."

It is the cutest thing Adora has ever heard, and she is overcome with a rush of affection for this  _ weird  _ girl.

"When did you get Melog?" Adora asks.

"When I was ten," Catra replies. "Hey, I don't want the RA to see them. Do you want to come in and pet them?"

"Yes!" Adora says, eyes lighting up. She wants nothing more than to pet this gigantic cat. Melog's fur looks  _ very  _ soft. 

And then she realizes: she is still in her towel.

"I'm, uh, just going to go get dressed first."

*****

Adora knocks softly on Catra's door a few minutes later. She's wearing the ERD pride tank and running shorts. Her hair is still wet and loose.

Catra opens the door a few inches, and then ushers Adora in.

Melog is curled up on Catra's bed. It's obvious which bed is Catra's, because the other bed has a completely bare mattress.

"Do you not have a roommate?" Adora asks.

"I mean, Melog," Catra answers, and it makes Adora laugh. "But my roommate doesn't want her parents to know she's living off campus with her boyfriend, so she signed up to live in the dorms." 

Adora can't imagine letting someone pay for a room she's not sleeping in, but it seems like a pretty good setup for Catra. She walks over to Melog but suddenly feels intimidated.

"Melog's super chill. They'll like it if you scratch between their ears," Catra offers. 

Adora tentatively pats Melog's head and gets a purr in response. She scratches a little and Melog nuzzles her hand. It is probably the softest fur Adora has ever felt, and she is incredibly grateful for this opportunity.

Catra hops onto the bed and strokes a hand slowly down Melog's side.

"So you use they/them pronouns for Melog," Adora prompts, trying to figure out how to refer to this cat.

"Yeah," Catra says. "When I first found Melog, I didn't know if they were male or female. I hid them in my room for two weeks before my mom found out, and by the time we actually took them to the vet, I was used to saying 'them'. I don't think Melog cares what pronouns you use. Because they're a cat."

"They're very soft," Adora says, because she doesn't know what else to say. She's just really charmed by Catra's thoughts about her cat. She kind of wants to bring up Catra mentioning her mom, but she also doesn’t want to pry. 

"Yeah," Catra says happily. "Once I figured out my roommate wasn't going to show up, I moved Melog in."

"So was Melog living with your grandparents?" Adora asks. 

"Uh huh. Abuelito pretended not to like cats, but I think he misses them," Catra replies. She's still sitting on her bed, petting Melog, while Adora stands next to them. 

"He seemed pretty nice. I mean your grandma, too. They both seem… nice," Adora says. 

"A little too nice," Catra admits. "I put them through hell for a couple of years."

"Oh?" Adora says. She's maybe fishing for info, just a little bit. When Glimmer had asked Catra about her friendship with Scorpia, she had just given short answers. Adora figures Catra will let her know if she’s pushed too far. 

Catra sighs, looks at Adora, and then focuses back on Melog. 

"I moved in with them after my mom died. They'd always been around, always helped us out, but it was… hard on me," Catra admits. Her tone doesn't reflect it. It sounds like she's reciting a story she's told too many times. "So I fucked around and failed my sophomore year. Then Scorpia dumped me and I realized that if even  _ Scorpia  _ couldn't forgive me, I'd gone too far. So I got my shit together."

It's that last piece of the puzzle she'd been waiting for. It explains a lot about Catra. 

She also feels like kind of an asshole for digging for this. Catra has just told her a hugely personal thing about herself, and it feels really important to let her know that she cares, that she recognizes the level of trust Catra had just given her. 

"That sounds really hard," Adora says. Melog is purring loudly, which produces a gentle rumble against her fingers. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Ugh," Catra says, but she smiles just a little. "So how is Bright Moon?"

"So good," Adora answers immediately. "There are so many strong skaters, and I feel like I'm learning a lot. Angella knows her stuff. How is the Horde?

"Good," Catra says, but she rolls her eyes. "I mean Shadow Weaver is a total bitch, but the team is great."

"She seems so creepy. Before we were drafted she told me she'd seen 'great progress from me' and then she, like, touched my cheek. Or rubbed it, I guess," Adora says. She hasn't admitted that to anyone else, and maybe it's not a very good idea to shit-talk Catra's bench coach, but Catra did just call her a bitch, so it seems okay. 

"She touches people's faces  _ all the time!"  _ Catra seethes. "No one wants her gross fucking fingers on their face! All cold and clammy."

"Exactly!" Adora laughs. 

(It’s kind of funny, the way Catra phrases it, but it also makes Adora a little nervous. Why is this woman still involved with the team if she makes everyone uncomfortable?)

"Why are you so interested in the Horde, anyway? Are you just trying to get all of our secrets?" Catra says. She sweeps her hair over one shoulder. She's wearing a top with spaghetti straps, so the move reveals a lot of light brown skin. 

(Is this what Adora has been reduced to? Is she thirsting over Catra's _shoulder_?)

"You asked me first!" Adora protests.

"Did I?" Catra asks, with a soft little smile. There's a brief moment of silence. "You can come sit up here, if you want."

Like Adora's going to turn that down.

She sits on the other side of Melog, still petting their long fur. 

Catra looks up at her, and Adora realizes that she's in Catra's bed, that Catra doesn't have a roommate, that they have complete privacy.

Adora grins at her, a little shy but hopefully still flirtatious. Catra leans toward her, over the cat. Adora leans in as well. She can feels Catra's warm breath. A hand comes up to rest on her shoulder. Adora closes her eyes.

All of the tension between them seems to be coming to a head. Her palms are sweaty, and her heart is racing. She wants this so much, has been waiting for months to do this. 

Catra's lips graze hers so softly she can barely feel them. 

And then her phone rings.

Loudly. 

Melog jumps off the bed, scratching Catra with their back paw in their haste. 

They both spring apart. 

It takes Adora a moment to realize it is her phone.

She checks her phone screen, and it's Glimmer. Her heart is pounding so hard her chest hurts.

"I need to take this," she says, because she does. Glimmer hasn't spoken to her in a month. She hasn't really been talking to Bow either.

Something cold passes Catra's face. 

"Okay," Catra replies, but her tone is clipped.

"Catra…," Adora starts, but she doesn't know what else to say.

' _ I really want to kiss you.' _

_ 'I'll come back as soon as I'm done. I have to be there for my friend.' _

_ 'You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen, and I think about you all the time.' _

_ 'Glimmer can wait, please put your tongue in my mouth.' _

But she doesn't say any of those things. 

"Thanks for letting me pet your cat," she says instead.

"Sure," Catra says, but her eyes don't meet Adora's.

As soon as she gets to the hallway, she answers the phone.

"Can we talk?" Glimmer asks.

Glimmer hasn’t wanted to talk to her for weeks. Adora has tried, but Glimmer has actively avoided her. She knows it’s not intentional, but the timing could not have been worse. She’s frustrated, but Glimmer is one of her best friends. 

"Of course," Adora replies, because she always has time for her friends. 

*****

When she gets to Glimmer's room, Glimmer is waiting outside.

"Adora, I'm so sorry," she says immediately, and she's crying, so Adora just hugs her.

"I'm sorry, too," Adora says, and it's not until she says it that she realizes it's true. She still thinks Glimmer was way more in the wrong than she was, but she does feel bad for trying to make her confront her feelings for Bow before she was ready. 

They get into her room, and Adora flops into a pink, fluffy chair. Pretty much everything in Glimmer's room is pink and cute. 

"You were right," Glimmer says. "I was jealous of Michael."

Which…

Duh. 

Adora can sometimes be a little clueless, but Glimmer was being pretty obvious.

"Did something happen?" Adora asks, because she's been waiting for Glimmer to talk to her for a month. Something must have changed. 

"Didn't Bow text you?" Glimmer asks, with a worried look on her face.

Adora looks down at her phone. She must have turned the text tone off, because in the past three hours, she missed seven texts from Bow, and one from Glimmer.

She reads through her messages. The one from Glimmer just says "I'm sorry."

Bow's first message says "Michael dumped me 😢."

The next is just a picture of a pint of ice cream with a spoon in it.

Followed by "Are you on campus?"

"Wanna have lunch?"

"I guess you're busy."

"Sorry to bug you."

"Let me know when you're free."

And it's the "sorry to bug you" that breaks Adora's heart.

Because Bow has always been there for her. She hopes he knows that she would never just ignore his messages. 

She immediately texts back eight heart emojis and tells him she's free for the rest of the day and would love to hang out.

Then she remembers she's still in Glimmer's room.

"What happened?" she asks.

"He won't tell me," Glimmer says. "But when he told me Michael broke up with him… I was happy."

It's such an awful thing to hear come out of Glimmer's mouth.

She isn't looking at Adora when she says it, and she's still crying. 

Bow is the most compassionate person Adora has ever met. She knows that if Glimmer got dumped, he would feel awful for her. 

And yet.

"I mean, that's not great," Adora says carefully. She's not looking to start another fight. "But I get it."

If Catra had a girlfriend, Adora likes to hope she'd still feel bad for her if she got dumped. She likes to hope that while they were dating, she wouldn't act the way Glimmer has acted about Michael. 

But she also knows that there's a part of her that would feel relieved. Even though she hasn't been able to push herself to tell Catra how she feels, she wouldn't want to watch her go out with someone else. 

"And I feel bad for him!" Glimmer says. "I do! I don't want him to be sad, but I…"

Adora waits it out. She hopes Glimmer will just admit that she’s into Bow, but if she doesn’t, Adora’s not going to risk pushing it again. 

"I just want him to go out with me," Glimmer says, and she's crying harder now. "But we've known each other since we were babies! We literally took baths together! What do I do if I lose him?"

"Hey," Adora chides. "You're not going to lose him."

Glimmer and Bow can't stop talking to each other. The past month has showed her what that looks like, and it  _ sucks _ . 

"Can I make a suggestion?" Adora says tentatively. She remembers how it went the last time she gave Glimmer unsolicited relationship advice.

"Yeah," Glimmer says quietly. 

Adora takes a moment to figure out how to phrase what she wants to say next. She kind of wants to tell Glimmer that if she keeps acting jealous every time Bow dates someone, she's definitely going to lose him, but she can't imagine that would go over well. 

"If it's going to hurt you that much to see him date someone else, maybe you should just tell him how you feel," Adora says. 

Glimmer stares at her. She doesn't look mad, which is a good sign, but she does look confused.

"Right now? He just got dumped," Glimmer says after a moment.

"Not right now! Oh, god, can you imagine?" Adora says immediately. She lets out a nervous little laugh, but it mostly comes out as a snort. 

Glimmer giggles just a little, and it's the first time Adora really feels like they are okay. She hugs Glimmer, and they just stand in the middle of the room, hugging, for what feels like forever. 

"Oh! I never told you how  _ badass  _ you were at the scrimmage!" Glimmer says, pulling away. 

Adora lets herself be distracted. She's kind of a sucker for flattery, so when Glimmer wants to tell her how cool she looked, she is definitely down to listen. 

Her phone buzzes again, and it's Bow asking her if they can meet at the duck pond. 

"Are you going to be okay?" Adora asks. 

"I'm okay," Glimmer says, and she looks like she's feeling better. "Thanks."

*****

When she meets up with Bow, it's pretty clear he's been crying. She sits down next to him on the bench and nudges his shoulder with hers.

"Hey," she says. 

"Hey," he replies. 

"I'm sorry I didn't get your text," she says. 

“I guess it’s okay if you have a life other than texting me,” Bow jokes. 

The thing is, she usually doesn’t. She spends a lot of time with Bow and Glimmer, and for the past month Glimmer has been out of the picture. It’s not like she doesn’t have other people to hang out with, but she and Bow have gotten really close.

“He, um, he told me he didn’t want to date me if I was hung up on someone else,” Bow says suddenly.

“Hung up on- oh,” Adora says. 

“I dated Michael because I wanted to date him,” Bow says. His voice has gone a little tremulous, but he’s still not actively crying. “I really  _ liked _ him. Like him. It wasn't about anyone else.”

There’s a beat of silence, and just as Adora as scrambling for something to say, Bow starts speaking again.

“Do you want to go on the swings again?” he asks.

Maybe she should encourage him to talk about his feelings more, but she is also exhausted. It has been a very weird day.

“Please,” she says.

They swing on the swings. There's a little more to their conversation, but she doesn't push Bow on what Michael said. She's honestly not sure she'll be able to handle it if Bow tells her he's into Glimmer. She wants to be there for her friends, but she also knows this is something they need to work out for themselves. 

*****

When she finally gets back to the dorms that night, she's exhausted, but she still wants to talk to Catra. She's not sure if what happened earlier counts as a kiss, and she's also pretty sure that bolting out of the room immediately after didn't look ideal.

Hopefully Catra will understand that Glimmer and Bow needed her. 

She knocks on the door.

There's no response.

She tries knocking again, and she hears Melog meow, but nothing from Catra.

Maybe she went out, Adora reasons. 

She doesn't have her phone number, and she feels weird sending her a DM, so she goes to bed.

It takes her hours to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me you think Rogelio's derby name is as funny as I did while I was writing it. 
> 
> Next chapter: First bout! Also, Catra does what Catra does best.


	12. First Bout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora skates in her first bout. Catra does what Catra does best. Adora makes some new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of roller derby in this chapter, for once. I tried my best to explain things as they went down, but: the jammer wears a star cover on their helmet, and they are the only member of their team who can score points. Each team has a jammer. Every one else is basically a blocker. (There's also a pivot on each team who can basically trade places with the jammer, but let's not worry about that right now.) The jammer has to get past all the blockers on the other team. The first pass doesn't count for points, but on the second pass the jammer scores for each opposing blocker they pass. The game is played in a series of 'jams'- the team gets to field new players when a new jam starts, or switch up which roles the players are in. 
> 
> An apex jump is when the jammer jumps around the turn of the track, usually to pass someone. It looks really fucking cool, so feel free to google that. 
> 
> Let me know if I can better clarify the rules! I've never written a sports fic before!!

The first bout of the season is that weekend. She can barely sleep the night before, so she wakes up early and goes for a super slow five mile jog. When she gets down to the dining hall after her shower she sees Catra, but she's on her way out. Catra doesn't look at her. She either doesn’t hear it when Adora calls out to her, or she chooses to ignore her.

She meets up with Bow and Glimmer for lunch, and it does make her feel better to freak out with friends. If nothing else, it’s nice to have all three of them back together again. She finally tells them the story of her sort-of-kiss with Catra.

"She kissed you?!" Bow exclaims loudly enough that the table next to theirs turns to look. 

Glimmer smacks his arm.

"Sorry!" he says. Then he whispers, "She kissed you?!

"Kind of?" Adora says. "I don't know if it was long enough to count. Our lips touched. But then my phone rang, when Glimmer called."

"And you left?!" Glimmer says. She sounds surprised, but also a little touched.

"Of course! I hadn't talked to you in weeks!" 

She’s not happy with where things are with Catra, but she can’t bring herself to regret her choice. Her friends are important to her, and she just has to hope that Catra can understand that. Not talking to Glimmer made her miserable. What kind of friend would she be of she just stayed?

"Aw, Adora!" Glimmer coos.

"Did you tell Catra you would come back?" Bow asks. He’s picking at the food on his plate suspiciously. Living at home means he hasn’t had to get used to dorm food, unlike Glimmer and Adora who are happily enjoying their mediocre meals.

"No," Adora moans. She shuffles her feet a little, knowing what she’s going to be asked yet. 

"So what did you say?" Glimmer asks.

Adora groans. 

She’s been turning it over in her head since it happened, and it somehow seems worse every time she remembers. 

"Thanks for letting me pet your cat," she mutters.

"Is that… is that a euphemism?" Glimmer asks with a giggle. 

Adora doesn’t know what euphemism means, but based on Bow shushing Glimmer, it’s a sex thing.

“Okay, so maybe not the _best_ response,” Bow says, frowning at a green bean. “But salvageable! Have you talked to her since?” 

“No!” Adora whines. “I went to knock on her door, but she didn’t answer! I even saw her this morning, but she ignored me!” 

“Adora, next time you have a moment like that with Catra, you have my permission to ignore my call. Throw your phone out the window, if you have to,” Glimmer replies. 

Adora's not sure she's capable of that. Sure, she wouldn't hold it against Bow or Glimmer if they missed a call from her, especially if it was because they were finally admitting their feelings to each other. She fixed things with Glimmer, and that was _important,_ even if she had maybe wanted to stay with Catra. Hopefully she can still fix things with Catra. 

Hopefully she can more than fix them, and she’ll get her first real, uninterrupted, no doubts about it kiss. 

“If there is a next time,” Adora sighs, and Bow rubs her shoulder. 

“There will be,” he says, but Adora isn’t sure. 

*****

Adora drives all of them to the bout in her car. Her parents had wanted to drive with her, but spectators aren’t allowed in until hours after Adora is supposed to be there. 

The stadium looks huge, although she remembers how few of the seats were filled the last time she was here. When she and Glimmer get into the dressing room, hardly anyone is there yet.

“She-Ra! Glimmer!” Perfuma calls out. She is fully topless, but also fully unbothered. All Adora can think is ‘way to go, Scorpia.’ She tries her best to keep her eyes on Perfuma's face, but she keeps _moving_. 

Perfuma puts her sports bra on, which makes it a lot easier for Adora to look at her. 

“Hey!” Glimmer says, setting her bag down nearby. 

“It’s your first bout! Are you two so excited?” Perfuma asks. She sits down on the bench and starts braiding her hair. She's french braiding her hair with no mirror, and Adora is in awe of her power. 

“I guess that’s one thing to call it,” Glimmer says. 

Adora feels a little bad for Glimmer; she knows having her mom as bench coach adds pressure.

It feels like a long time passes before the bout starts. They get some time on the track to warm up, some time to strategize and get hyped for the bout, and then it’s finally time. 

As the Bright Moon skaters come out to the track, Adora looks around for her parents. It’s not that hard to find them in the stands, waving. Of course ( _of course)_ they are sitting next to Catra’s grandparents. Adora hasn’t told her parents about the almost-kiss or the lack of contact since. Her mom asks about Catra every time she calls. She is absolutely positive her mom planned to find Catra's grandparents and sit with them. . She’s also positive that her mom will have their phone numbers by the end of the night. It's cute. Maybe she's a little embarrassed that her mom thinks she needs to be Adora's wing woman, but she knows she's just trying to help. 

The lights are bright and the crowd is loud, so Adora can’t really focus on that right now, anyway. 

Their team is announced, and each skater’s name and number is read off as they skate by. Adora can hear her dad shout as her name is called. 

It feels very different than the scrimmage. Everything is a little more intimidating. The floor is way slipperier than the concrete of the practice space. A lot of the experienced skaters even changed out their wheels. The crowd makes her heart race, mostly in a good way. 

Adora winds up on the bench for most of the first half. She gets to block a few times, and Angella even lets her jam once. Of course, she winds up getting put up against Double Trouble who scores fifteen points and then calls the jam just as Adora is about to finally start her scoring pass. 

She expects her teammates to be angry with her, expects that Angella won’t let her jam again. 

“Hey, buck up, She-Ra,” Mermista tells her as they watch the next jam. “You got past _Huntara_. I can’t do that most of the time.

The Horde is up five points when the first half ends, but it’s stayed really close the whole game. When Adora dashes away to find a bathroom, she runs into her mom, casually getting food from the concession stand with Catra’s grandma. 

Somehow, her mom has managed to be smoother than she is.

“You’re so fast!” her mom tells her immediately, pulling into a hug with one arm, with a slice of pizza in the other hand. 

“Very fast,” Catra’s grandma agrees. “You have excellent form. Tell Catrina to bring you to the Fright Zone sometime.”

“Oh that’s right, you have a skating rink!” Adora’s mom starts, and then the conversation turns to the rink until Adora is able to sneak away.

Adora successfully navigates the bathroom in her skates, and it’s not long before the second half begins. 

Once Perfuma manages to secure a twenty point lead for Bright Moon, Adora is asked to jam again.

“But I didn’t get any points last time,” Adora protests.

“No one expects you to score every jam,” Angella says patiently. 

It still doesn't seem like a good idea, but Adora isn't going to argue with Angella. Adora gets behind the jammer line and adjusts the star on her helmet. She takes a deep breath and gathers her focus. 

Then Catra skates up next to her, and Adora can’t help but remember the last time they were together, sitting on Catra’s bed. She wants to be back in that moment, wants to be able to kiss her until it feels real.

“Hey,” Adora says softly, hopefully. 

“Hey,” Catra replies, and she’s doing that flirty little smirk that always gets to Adora. 

Maybe things aren’t irreparable after all. At least Catra is looking at her. 

The jam timer calls five seconds, and Adora forces herself to look away. The whistle blows, and they both sprint forward. 

Huntara isn’t on the track this jam, but Scorpia is, and Adora knows that she is going to prove to be a challenge. She gets by one blocker without too much trouble, but then she comes up to a wall of the other three blockers, and she’s not sure how to make it through. 

She hears two short whistle blasts, indicating that Catra has become lead jammer. Adora’s frustration rises. She’s not sure how she’s going to make it through this pass- it seems like it’s going to be a repeat of her last turn as jammer. 

Then Mermista hip checks Scorpia _hard_ and the momentary distraction allows Adora to slip through. Catra is almost back to the pack for her scoring pass, so Adora skates as hard as she can to catch up. She hopes Catra doesn’t call it before she’s able to score.

Catra is somewhere in the pack when Adora gets back around. She passes Lonnie, but then she gets knocked out of bounds. Her only focus is getting back to score more points, so she steps back onto the track.

It’s a mistake. 

There’s a whistle, and then she hears Jewelstar call out her number, followed by “track cut.”

A penalty. 

It’s a game, Adora reminds herself. 

It’s a fun game that she is playing with her friends.

Adora hurries to the penalty box and sits down. The sooner she starts her penalty, the sooner it will be over. 

Nervous energy isn’t exactly new to Adora, but sitting in the penalty box, watching Catra make her way through the pack is a new level. She just wants to be out there, not stuck in a chair feeling useless. 

She has one point, for passing Lonnie. She still needs to pass the other three blockers to complete the pass.

If Catra completes this pass, she only needs to pass one blocker on her second scoring pass to get a point for passing Adora, as long as Adora is still in the penalty box. 

One of the Horde skaters gets called on a penalty, but Adora can’t really focus on that right now. 

Catra looks really cool. There hasn’t really been a chance to watch her jam, not while Adora is also skating, but she’s so quick on her feet. 

Then something happens. 

Adora doesn’t have the best angle, but one moment Catra is pushing against Spinerella, and the next a whistle sounds, and she’s being called on a back block. 

This puts Adora in a great position, she realizes. 

As soon as Catra starts her penalty, Adora will be released. She’ll have to get through the pack once, but one of the Horde skaters is in the penalty box, so it shouldn’t be as difficult as it was the first time. Catra going to the penalty box means she will lose lead jammer status, so she won’t be able to call off the jam if Adora gets too close to her score.

She’s released from the penalty box, and Adora tries her best to make a plan. With Catra off the track, the Horde blockers don’t have to worry about anything except for keeping Adora from getting through. However, Bright Moon’s blockers can also focus on helping Adora get through, with no distraction. 

Adora knows that Scorpia is very muscular; it’s kind of hard to forget. She’s also really tall and broad. Usually, though, she’s not intimidating. Her goofy smile, affable nature, and Canadian accent overcompensate for her physical form. Right now, though, hip-to-hip with Lonnie, she looks more serious than Adora has ever seen her, and Adora just feels nervous.

The seam between them doesn’t give when she tries to push there. 

But Lonnie is still new, and she’s not fully lined up to the inside line

Adora waits until they get a little closer to the apex. As soon as Lonnie’s skates go just an inch too far from the line, Adora speeds up and hops past her, just barely landing inside the lines.

The crowd screams. 

It wasn’t one of the big, impressive apex jumps she’s seen Double Trouble pull off, but the crowd loves it. She’s feeling reinvigorated, and she makes it past the Horde’s last blocker just as Catra is coming out of the penalty box. 

The rest of the jam is an exhausting blur. 

She gets eleven points to Catra’s five, and the Bright Moon bench is teeming with excitement.

Glimmer grabs Adora in a hug, Mermista says “hell yeah” about fourteen times, and she gets an approving smile from Angella.

Adora can’t help but glance over at the Horde’s bench, where Shadow Weaver seems less than pleased with Catra. It doesn’t seem fair. Catra did a hell of a lot better than Adora did in her jam against Double Trouble.

Bright Moon wins, and she lets herself be distracted by the celebration. 

*****

The after party starts off a lot of fun. She dances with Glimmer, mostly, and Bow, and even Starla. Adora’s generally not super into dancing, but it is really nice to be able to dance with girls in a way that isn’t just standing near each other and shaking their hips. 

So it’s exhilarating and even kind of freeing, but Adora is also a little bit distracted. She's aware that she's maybe not fully focused on what Glimmer is saying when they are leaning against the bar with their drinks.

"Are you looking for Catra?" Glimmer asks in a knowing tone. 

"Yeah," Adora admits, chewing on her paper straw which has already pretty much turned to mush. 

“Come dance with me until you find her!” Glimmer says leaning into Adora’s shoulder. She's been dancing hard since the party began, leaving smears of glitter on anyone she touches. 

“I still need to finish my Sprite,” Adora says, but then she gets an idea. It’s a little mean, but Glimmer would 100% do it to her. “Hey, Bow! Glimmer wants someone to dance with!” 

Glimmer shushes her and gently shoves her in frustration. 

Bow comes over and grabs Glimmer by the hand without a word, dragging her out to dance with him. 

All’s well that ends well, Adora figures.

“I see what you did there,” Starla says, sitting down next to Adora.

“Oops?” Adora says, but she’s smiling. 

“Are you actually trying to finish your drink?” Starla asks. She’s a little sweaty, from skating and dancing. Instead of looking like a sticky mess, she just looks dewy and flushed. 

“It’s already empty,” Adora admits. 

Starla grabs her hand and pulls her onto the dance floor. 

It’s a lot of fun to dance with Starla. 

She’s pansexual, but she’s still dating her highschool boyfriend, so Adora doesn’t have to worry about leading her on. Mostly, it means Adora can put her arms around Starla’s shoulder, can twirl her, can dance close to her in a way she wouldn't feel comfortable dancing with a straight girl.

And yeah, she’s a pretty girl who’s happy to press her body up against Adora’s. What’s not to like?

They dance for a little longer, until Adora gets thirsty again and sees Bow and Glimmer sitting off to the side. 

Starla goes to find her siblings to head home, and Adora starts making her way over to Bow and Glimmer. 

And then Adora sees Catra. She’s clearly showered since the bout, and she’s changed into black skinny jeans and a really low-cut top.

Also, she’s making out with a girl from Adora’s biology class. 

Which is fine.

Catra gets to make out with whoever she wants. Adora doesn't have any claim over her. 

But she also wants to leave the party immediately to curl up in her bed and cry. 

Glimmer follows Adora’s eyes to Catra, and then she grabs Adora’s wrist. 

“Do you want to leave?” Glimmer asks. She rubs a thumb comfortingly against the inside of Adora’s wrist

She does. Desperately. 

“It’s fine,” Adora says, but she hears that her voice is shaky.

“I have vodka in my fridge,” Glimmer says, sipping her diet Coke and raising an eyebrow.

Adora has never tried vodka before. She had half a wine cooler on an overnight for track once and a few sips of various things at family weddings and parties with friends. Vodka seems like a much bigger step, but it’s Glimmer. Besides, Adora already kind of feels like she’s going to throw up, so what’s the worst alcohol can do to her? 

“Yeah, okay,” Adora answers. 

“Bow are you in?” Glimmer asks.

“No, I’m gonna stay and dance a little more,” Bow says. 

Glimmer pouts a little at that, but they head out. 

*****

The next morning, Adora feels fine, if a little tired. Glimmer is dead to the world, drooling a little on Adora's arm. 

She's not proud to admit that they both crashed in Glimmer's twin bed after drinking weak screwdrivers.

She's also not proud to admit that after one drink, she started crying about Catra. 

They had fallen asleep not long after. 

Adora tried to wake Glimmer up to say goodbye, but Glimmer had just groaned and pulled a pillow over her head. She goes back to her dorm, but someone calls out to her as she is opening her door. 

“Hey, Adora,” she hears from down the hall. 

She’s so used to hearing those two words from Catra that it takes her a moment to realize that the voice is wrong.

It’s Natalie from bio class. 

Who has just shut the door to Catra’s room. 

And is wearing the same short dress and heels she wore last night.

Her hair is an absolute disaster: completely flat on one side and a tangled mess on the other. 

“Hi, Natalie,” Adora replies, reaching for the door handle so she can shut herself in her room and try to purge this moment from her brain.

Apparently, Natalie does not have the same idea, because she starts walking toward Adora. 

“Do you, um, know where the elevator is?” she asks, and at least she sounds a little embarrassed. 

“End of the hall, but they’re both broken,” Adora says, gesturing with a nod of her head, still struggling with her key. She’s not sure why her motor skills have chosen this moment to fail her, but she cannot get her key to fit in the lock. It takes her a few more tries to realizes that she’s been trying to force the key to her parents’ house into her door.

“Of course they are,” Natalie says. “What floor is this again?”

“The fourth,” Adora says. 

Natalie looks down at her shoes and groans. 

Adora looks at Natalie and realizes that she has two choices. She can say goodbye and keep having minimal conversations with her in biology. No one would judge her for that. It would be so easy. 

But she could help someone who genuinely has done nothing wrong, has never been anything but nice to her. Natalie has no way of knowing about Adora's gigantic all-consuming crush on Catra. She just met a really hot girl and made a bolder choice than Adora could see herself making. Adora's jealous that Natalie slept with Catra, but she's also a little jealous of her ability to take what she wants. 

“Do you want to borrow a pair of flip flops?” Adora finds herself saying.

“Oh my god,” Natalie says, and it’s the most awake she has sounded. “You are the _best_. If you want my notes before the mid-term, they are, like, meticulously color coded.”

“My roommate is out of town. You can come in if you want,” Adora says as she (finally) opens the door. 

Natalie catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror over the sink while Adora is digging for flip flops. 

“Holy shit, no wonder you took pity on me,” she says, trying to finger comb her hair into something that looks a little more intentional.

“Here,” Adora says and she hands Natalie a hair tie. She also passes her a packet of makeup wipes Glimmer had insisted Adora take.

“You are a lifesaver,” Natalie says. “You’re like a morning-after fairy godmother.”

“Haha,” Adora says in an attempt to replicate a human laugh. 

Her uniform shirt is still hanging over a chair to dry, which Natalie immediately notices. 

“Oh, do you play roller derby?” Natalie asks, wiping away crusty eyeliner that had migrated onto her cheek.

Adora wonders if she would survive jumping out the window. 

“Just started this season,” Adora answers.

“I just found out that was a thing,” Natalie says. “I, um, maybe met one of your teammates last night?”

“Yeah, I saw you at the after party last night,” she says. She can handle it if Natalie and Catra date. Catra gets to date whoever she wants. 

Maybe if she tells herself that enough times, it will feel true. 

She decides to go for broke and finds a pair of sweatpants and a tank top that look like they will fit Natalie’s slightly curvier body. She turns around to give Natalie a chance to change. 

"Would it be weird if I tried out next season?" Natalie asks.

"What?" 

It's the only thing Adora can come up with to say. She has no idea what she expected to hear from Natalie, but it certainly wasn't that. 

"I've played hockey since I was little, but EU doesn't have a team. I'd love to find a new contact sport, but is it weird to try out after I've already hooked up with someone on the team?" Natalie says. She's finished changing, and of course she looks great in Adora's clothes. 

Adora thinks about the relationships that currently exist among members of the league, and Catra and Scorpia past, and whatever the hell happened with Mermista, Sea Hawk, and Double Trouble in Frost City.

"I don't think you have to worry about that," Adora says. Everything she's done this morning, she's done with pure intentions. If Natalie and Catra go out, Adora's going to _hate_ it, but she's not going to do anything to stop it from happening. Still, she has to ask. "Are you going to go out with Catra again?"

"Oh, right, that's her name," Natalie says flippantly. "No. This was just a one time thing. A really fun one time thing, but I don't date."

Adora feels like a weight has been lifted. Sure, she's still a little jealous, but at least this won't end with Catra having a girlfriend. She feels a little more empathy for Glimmer: it must have sucked to see Bow with Michael. 

Natalie has a few more questions about roller derby, so Adora walks her out of the dorm building while they talk. She promises to come to the next bout.

It's not until she's gone that Adora realizes that she just made friends with her crush's one night stand. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you were wondering: Sea Hawk, Mermista and Double Trouble had an easy, breezy, threesie in Frost City, but DT is not an ongoing part of the Seamista relationship. Double Trouble would say that the special guest star is the role they were born to play, but Adora is never going to ask anyone involved about what happened that night.


	13. The Scrimmage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora makes some decisions about what she wants. 
> 
> A scrimmage ends early.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I say something controversial yet brave?
> 
> This whole global pandemic thing is not my favorite.
> 
> It's been a wild few months. I hope the next update will not take anywhere near as long. 
> 
> If you're someone who has been waiting on this chapter, thank you for your patience. I've had some truly lovely reviewers, and if you are one of them: your words mean so much to me.

"Well, you’re a better person than I am,” Glimmer tells her during a post-practice smoothie run. 

“What? No,” Adora replies immediately. “I just felt really bad for her. The elevators were still down, and I wouldn’t have even made it down the hall in those shoes. And her bio notes are totally going to save me for the next test.”

“I still can’t believe you’re doing a group project with her,” Glimmer says. 

Adora doesn’t have a response for that, so she just takes a big gulp of her smoothie. It's delicious, but also: ow, brain freeze.

“It’s really great that you’ve made a friend out of this,” Bow says slowly, and Adora can already hear the unsolicited advice coming. “But if you were maybe a little… mad… that Catra didn’t try to talk to you…”

"She's allowed to do what she wants," Adora says. It's nice to hear Bow say that it's okay for her to be mad, but it doesn't stop the gross feeling that has taken up residence in her stomach.

"Sure," Bow says. "But you're also allowed to have feelings."

“It’s not really any of my business,” Adora says.

“But you’re still allowed to have feelings.”

That sounds wrong to her. She doesn’t want to shame Catra for having sex, and it’s probably fair that Catra was upset with her for walking off. Sure she’s  _ allowed  _ to have feelings, but she’d rather just push the bad ones down until they don’t hurt as much anymore.

“Maybe I should apologize for walking out on her,” Adora muses. 

“Maybe,” Bow says. “But Adora, if you’re upset about it, it’s better to recognize that and figure out what to do about it than to let it eat away at you.”

“And if that doesn’t work out for you, I have more vodka,” Glimmer says.

*****

A few days later, Adora wakes up early to go to the gym as it opens. She cycles through a few different weight machines before heading over to her favorite rowing machine. That's when she notices Catra on the treadmill. She's maintaining a pretty brutal pace, sweat pouring down her face.

Catra is gorgeous (of course she's gorgeous, she's always gorgeous), but she looks exhausted. There are dark circles under her eyes and even drenched in sweat, her skin looks dull. 

It would be a bad time to interrupt her, so Adora just sits down and grabs the handles of the rowing machine. She's twenty minutes in when she feels a drip on her face.

She takes an earbud out and looks up to see Catra leaning over her. Instead of any of the things she wants to say to her, she blurts out the first thing that comes to her mind.

"Did you just drip your sweat all over me?!"

Catra shakes her head, sending more droplets of sweat onto Adora.

"Ew!" Adora exclaims, but she's laughing. 

"Are you almost done?" Catra asks, smiling down at her. It’s almost like the past few days never happened, like before Catra started ignoring her.

“Yeah,” Adora lies. She had planned to go another twenty minutes, but instead she gets up to wipe down the machine. “Why?”

“Wanna get breakfast?” Catra asks. 

“Yes!” Adora says immediately, and then she realizes she should play it cool. “I mean, yeah, that would be okay.”

“Dork,” Catra says in response with just a little bit of a high pitched cackle.

“You’re a dork,” Adora counters. It’s not the smoothest thing she’s ever said, but Catra just hip checks her and starts heading to the door. 

“I’m gonna take a shower,” Catra says. “Meet you in the dining hall at 7?”

“Yeah, sounds great,” Adora says.

It takes her a moment to realize that they will be in the showers at the same time. Sure, they’ll be in separate stalls, but Adora will still be able to hear any sound Catra makes.

Not that she’s expecting her to make noise in the shower.

But she thinks about it as she washes her hair. Catra is only a few feet away from her, also naked and probably all lathered up with shower gel. Adora tries to power down her brain, to refocus her energy on the paper she still has to write for her freshman seminar.

Then she hears something, very faint. It can only be Catra, because there’s no one else in the room. 

She’s singing. 

It’s soft, and Adora doesn’t know the song, but her voice is beautiful. It’s a little higher than Adora would have expected.

Adora is already so far gone for this girl. She already can’t get her out of her head, but this extra detail really isn’t helping anything. She wasn’t planning to, but she decides to shave her legs to take just a little longer in the shower, to hear more of Catra’s voice. 

She dresses quickly, then runs a brush through her hair and pulls it into a quick ponytail. It’s 6:58 when she gets down to the dining hall, and Catra is already there. 

“Do you wash your hair every day?” Catra asks, looking up at Adora’s wet hair.

“Um, yeah,” Adora says. She thought everyone washed their hair every day, but Glimmer has also teased her about it, so apparently it’s unusual. 

“White people are  _ wild _ ,” Catra replies, and then scans her student ID to let her into the dining hall. 

It doesn’t feel like there’s anything reasonable she can say in response to that, so she says nothing. A little pang of self-consciousness hits her- should she  _ not  _ wash her hair every day? Just another thing for her to google, she figures.

Catra drinks four cups of coffee over the course of a half hour and eats a surprising amount for someone so small. They talk about derby and school and the somewhat alarming friendship Adora’s mom has struck up with Catra’s abuelita. It’s nice, so of course Adora has to fuck it up. 

“I’m sorry I ran out on you the other day,” Adora blurts out. 

“Why did you leave?” Catra says softly. Her fingers tense around her coffee cup, but her face remains neutral.

“Glimmer called. We hadn’t talked in a month after a fight over something stupid,” Adora says, happy she can finally explain herself.

“So you couldn’t have waited, like, five minutes,” Catra says, eyebrows furrowing.

“Exactly!” Adora replies. “I was worried if I didn’t pick up, she wouldn’t answer if I tried calling her back.”

“And you didn’t want to miss out on that moment with… Glimmer,” Catra says slowly.

“Yes!” Adora says, because that’s exactly what happened, but Catra just frowns at her. “I mean,  _ moment  _ is kind of a strong word. But I had to be there for my friend!”

“What did she need?” Catra asks.

“It was personal,” Adora says, willing Catra to understand.

“Cool,” Catra says, and she grabs her tray. “I’ll see you around.”

“Wait!” Adora exclaims. Catra pauses, but she’s still standing. “Catra, I really wanted to stay with you.”

“But you didn’t,” Catra says, and she turns away.

“Catra!” Adora says. She gets up to go after her, but Catra doesn’t turn back around. 

All Adora can think is  _ things were going so well. _

*****

At practice later that week, Scorpia keeps hovering around Catra. At first, Adora assumes it’s because Catra still looks exhausted, but it turns out there’s a different reason.

“Hey, Wildcat, happy-” 

“Stop it, Scorpia,” Catra snaps. She’s earlier than usual today, which means she’s gearing up a few minutes before it’s time for them to hit the track.

“Oh, no, did you not want anyone to know?” Scorpia says while Catra glares daggers at her. “You are really not going to like the next part.”

The next part is Perfuma coming in with a tray of cupcakes. 

“Happy Birthday, Wildcat!” she says sunnily as Catra groans. 

Sea Hawk literally vaults over a chair for a cupcake, and most of the other skaters seem to be acutely aware that there are snacks in the room. 

"We're saving them for after practice!" Perfuma says, which is met with general displeasure. Still, it doesn't seem like the world's worst idea to wait. As much as she loves cupcakes, Adora's pretty sure she's better off not having one immediately before putting in a mouth guard.

During their first water break, Glimmer pulls her aside.

"Catra keeps looking at you," she tells her before taking a huge sip from her bright pink water bottle. 

Adora immediately turns to check while Glimmer slaps at her arm and hisses, " _ Don't!" _

Her eyes meet Catra's, but as soon as she sees Adora has caught her, she turns away.

"She's still mad at me." If a little bit of frustration creeps into her tone, so be it. 

"But she's still clearly interested," Glimmer insists. 

Her definition of clearly might be a little different than Adora's, given that Catra walked out of their last conversation. 

"Maybe," Adora replies, fully unconvinced.

“Are you still interested?”

Adora groans.

“Of course I am,” she replies. 

"She's already looking at you again," Glimmer says. 

They are called back to practice, but when Adora looks over out of the corner of her eye, she sees that Glimmer is right.

So, Catra is really focused on her today. She isn't really sure what to do with that information. Catra doesn’t look like she’s mad at her, which is a start.

She looks down. Her leggings are a basic black, and her tank top is one of the many Bright Moon purple training tanks she's collected over the past few months. It can't be what she's wearing. 

From what she's managed to piece together, Catra was mad at her for walking out on their Almost Kiss, because Adora didn't prioritize her. Maybe, she decides, the answer is just to show Catra that she is a priority. 

She's not really interested in chasing after Catra, not if she doesn’t want her, but after months of not being able to get her out of her head, she decides to give things one last shot. 

The rest of practice, her mind races through all the ways she could do that. She still hasn't come up with an answer when Perfuma leads them all through stretches. When they are dismissed to gear down, she decides she needs to act.

"Catra!" She calls out. Catra turns to Adora, but she doesn't say anything. "Um. Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks," Catra says dryly. She turns away again, and before she has really decided on a plan, Adora opens her mouth.

"Get coffee with me," she blurts out. Then she remembers that it's ten PM and she has class early tomorrow. "Not today. This weekend, maybe."

An eternity passes while she waits for Catra's answer. The ripping sound of velcro straps being undone suddenly seems much louder. 

"Wildcat!" Scorpia calls out from around the corner. "Get over here! We can't eat your cupcakes without you!"

If she is about to be rejected, at least there will be a cupcake waiting for her, Adora decides. 

"Saturday? After the scrimmage?" Catra says with a tiny grin that Adora would really love to kiss.

"Any time you want," Adora says. She feels a massive smile overtaking her face. There's no helping it- she's absolutely giddy. 

"Wildcat!" Someone shouts. Probably Sea Hawk. "Cupcakes!"

"I'll text you," Catra says. 

Once Catra has turned away, Adora does a victory fist pump so intense that she slips on her wheels and almost falls on her ass, but it's worth it.

*****

When she gets a text from an unknown number the next afternoon, that just says ' _ Are we still on for coffee tomorrow?',  _ she immediately saves the number as Catra. She briefly wonders how Catra got her number, before she remembers the contact sheet the league sent out at the beginning of the season. 

They text back and forth the rest of the day, on and off. Catra sends her four pictures of Melog, and she saves all of them. 

When she wakes up on Saturday it is  _ stupid _ early. Who decided on a 10AM scrimmage, and why did they hate her? She tries to eat breakfast, but between the scrimmage and her date (is it a  _ date?!)  _ with Catra, she has trouble getting anything down. 

There aren't many people there when she shows up, even though she's cutting it closer to start time than she usually does. Because it's a scrimmage, hardly anyone is there to watch- just poor, concussed Kyle and Mermista with a sprained wrist.

They are divided up into teams randomly. For the first time in her derby career, she winds up on a team with Catra. 

Neither of them are in the first line up, so they sit on the sidelines and watch. 

Glimmer is forming a wall with Lonnie, but they get separated in order to maintain the pack. She’s left alone in the front, and she pushes into Flutterina’s side, knocking her out of bounds.

Adora cheers.

“That was our jammer!” Catra chides.

“Oh, no, I forgot! C’mon, Flutterina!” Adora shouts. Secretly, though, she wants to see Glimmer do well. She definitely cares about the score- if she jams against Glimmer, she’s not going to show her any mercy- but it’s exciting to watch her friend knock their teammates down. 

Adora skates the next jam and has an uneventful yet tiring go as a blocker. Catra gets put in for the first time in jam three. Then she is asked to skate again for the fourth jam. When Shadow Weaver is picking the roster for the fifth jam, Adora hears Scorpia protest. 

“That’s too many in a row. She’s still new,” Scorpia says.

It’s the first time she’s ever heard anyone stand up to Shadow Weaver. It’s also the first time she’s heard Scorpia say something less than positive about anyone but herself. 

“She made the team. She can handle it,” Shadow Weaver replies.

“I can,” Catra says fiercely, and that’s the end of it. 

The jam starts.

Adora hears Catra go down before she really processes what’s happened. She falls  _ hard  _ on her hip, and Adora sees Jewelstar hesitate with his whistle for a moment before Catra slowly pulls herself up. She favors her other leg heavily, but she’s upright, so the jam doesn’t get called.

“Are you okay?” Adora asks as soon as Catra rejoins her on the sidelines. 

“I’m fine,” Catra says. “It’s derby. People fall.”

Adora gets rostered to jam, so they don’t get to talk about it more. Scorpia comes to sit next to Catra, and Adora figures she is in good hands. 

Adora scores five points, and she’s ecstatic. Catra grins back at her, but then she reaches out a hand to take the star from Adora. 

“They’re putting you in as jammer?” Adora asks in disbelief.

Catra looks offended, which is absolutely fair.

“No, no, you’re a great skater, but you just fell! Shouldn’t they give you anot-”

“ _ She-Ra,”  _ a voice calls to her. “I understand that you’re new to the sport, but it’s not your place to question my rosters.”

Shadow Weaver.

Scorpia looks furious. It’s a debate that she clearly already lost. 

The whistle blows to start the jam, and Adora decides that maybe she was overreacting. Catra looks fine. She makes her way through the pack with impressive ease, dodging around the white team’s blockers like it’s nothing. Then she leaves the pack, and Adora can tell that something is wrong. 

Catra is hardly using her right leg. Her crossovers are sloppy, because she’s not getting enough push. 

She makes her way back into the pack and struggles substantially more than the first pass. 

“She should call it,” Scorpia says decisively. 

“Of course  _ you’d  _ say that,” Shadow Weaver replies dismissively. “The other jammer hasn’t even made it though her initial pass. And look who it is…”

The white team had fielded Perfuma as a jammer, and she was making absolutely no headway. 

“Do you really think your opinion is unbiased?” Shadow Weaver drawls.

While Scorpia and Shadow Weaver debated, Catra made her way into the pack for a third time. She ran into a wall of blockers and stumbled over the line. She skated back in behind the pack. She kept losing her balance. 

“CALL IT, WILDCAT,” Scorpia calls out, ignoring her bench coach. 

Catra looks over to them.

“Not yet,” Shadow Weaver calls back, while Scorpia frantically taps her hips in the gesture to call off the jam.

Scorpia can’t call the jam, though. Catra has to. Catra nods to Shadow Weaver and skates back into the pack. 

She makes it past Lonnie and Glimmer, but she can’t seem to make it past Netossa. She trips into her, and they both hit the ground. 

The crack is deafening. 

Things happen around her rapidly. Someone whistles to call the jam off. Mermista is at Catra’s side within seconds. Scorpia yells something at Shadow Weaver, but Perfuma positions herself in front of her, a calming hand on her shoulder. 

Someone is talking to Adora, but she can’t hear them. All she can see is Catra, still on the ground. 


End file.
